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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23110111">The King, The Queen, and The Fool</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stuckin/pseuds/Stuckin'>Stuckin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steven Universe (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Beach City, But only a little, Cannon up to s06e10 Prickly Pair, F/F, F/M, Gem Fusion, Lewdness Happens, Little Homeworld, Multi, No Sympathy, OT3's Give Me Life, Pink is Biggest Bitch, Spinel Loves Her Big Strong Humans, Spinel is baby, The Cluster gets a Name, We Got OC's, We got some trauma, We're Cannon up to Change Your Mind Now, cute stuff, nevermind</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 15:27:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>41,543</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23110111</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stuckin/pseuds/Stuckin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Steven and Connie enjoy their time together, managing to spend plenty of time on dates and hanging out despite their busy schedules as a gem ambassador and up-and-coming mayoral candidate, respectively. But with a certain gem finally finding it in herself to try and befriend her one-time enemy, how will their relationship dynamics change?</p><p> </p><p>(Note: I started planning and writing this around the time Prickly Pair came out, so anything after that episode may or may not be included.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Connie Maheswaran/Spinel, Connie Maheswaran/Spinel/Steven Universe, Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe, Spinel/Steven Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>103</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Return of Spinel: Less Dangerous This Time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello anyone who may be reading this shameless OT3! This is the first ever actual fanficiton I've done, so if you notice any problems feel free to let me know. I got the inspiration for this thanks to some artists who themselves were into Stevinel, but I like Steven/Connie as well. The solution? Ship them all together! So yeah, hope you enjoy ^w^</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“...even? Steven? Steven!” Jolted out of his thoughts, Steven nearly drops his phone in surprise, catching it out of the air at the last second. Looking over his shoulder, he chuckles sheepishly at the sight of Pearl, arms crossed and tapping one foot impatiently. “Eheh, sorry Pearl, Connie was texting me. What were you saying?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The gem simply rolls her eyes, patting him on the head as she walks by him. “Of course, how rude of me stop you. Please, don’t let this lowly pearl interrupt your telecommunications.” The sarcasm practically drips from her voice, getting a laugh out of him while she fiddles with her jacket. “So will you be alright on your own for the day? You don’t need anything? I know you don’t really need me to, but I can-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Pearl, Pearl!” He laughs even more, stepping up to her and putting his hands on her shoulders to knock her out of her rambling. “I’ll be fine! I’m gonna be at the embassy most of the day, and then I’ll hang out with Connie once she gets off work. </span>
  <em>
    <span>You</span>
  </em>
  <span> go and hang out with your friends. I’m not a kid anymore, y’know?” </span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The pale gem sighs and looks up at her ward, and she really does have to look up to meet his eyes now, doesn’t she? She’s never really gotten used to how fast Steven grows, it feels like only a few moments ago he was toddling around in diapers, and here he is now, as tall as a quartz soldier. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I suppose you are, aren’t you? Alright, I’ll get out of your hair now.” She shakes her head and sighs, patting one of his hands as she pulls away, heading out the door. “Have a good day Steven, and let Amethyst know she needs to speak with me if you see her!” With one final wave, she’s out the door, leaving Steven alone in the beach house.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The young man lets down his own waving hand, letting out a bemused sigh of relief. It was always a trip having the gems try and coddle him, even after all this time. He stretched a bit, back letting out a few satisfying pops before patting down his pockets to make sure he’s got everything he needs. He’d dressed up a little since he was going to the embassy, going for a black shirt with pink highlights and an appropriately resized organic jacket. Still wearing jean shorts and sandals, though.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Phone? Check. Gem Scroller? Check. Wallet? A quick trip up to his room makes that a check too. Putting it in his pocket, he grabs the folder of papers off of the kitchenette table and heads over to the warp pad. A quick look on his phone shows that he’ll be a few minutes early, but better that then late. With a blue column of light and the crystalline chime that comes with a warp, the diamond vanishes from his home.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In the warp, Steven takes a moment to take a deep breath and brace himself, dragging a hand through his now longer hair, making sure not to pull out his hairband and send his ringletts all over the place. Even after 5 years, he still couldn’t get used to all the gems-and even some humans-that treat him like a...well, a Diamond. Despite not having any bars, he checks his phone again, smiling at Connie’s last message.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Jam: Sounds good! I really need a break from all this paperwork. See you soon &lt;3</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He smiles, sliding his phone back in his pocket. That’s as good a motivation as any to get through the day with a smile on his face. For now though, he puts on his ‘Game Face’, open and welcome, but firm and no-nonsense. He can feel gravity starting to reassert its hold on him, years of practice letting him come out of the warp with a steady stance, looking around at the new building.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Embassy is massive, a mixed construct of Human and Gem tech and architecture anchored out in international waters, built around the old galaxy warp hub. All around him he can see clusters of warp pads, pillars of light opening and closing almost constantly through the massive, clear hard-light dome. He’s glad he aimed for a pad near one of the walls, considering the hub room is almost as big as a football field.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Walls of metal, crystal and polished wood color the room in differently hued lights, and hallways made for gems the size of the Diamonds all the way down to Pebbles pockmark them like the inside of an anthill. It’s as busy as one too, gems and humans all traveling around the hub room at all kinds of paces, coming in and out of corridors all over the place. Steven himself makes a quick exit down one of the smaller hallways, hoping to cut off as many random greetings as he can. It’s not like he wouldn’t love to meet people, but he needs to actually get to his meeting with Blue at some point today.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thankfully the trip through the hallways isn’t all that difficult, he only runs into a duo of rubies escorting a secretary for one of the human ambassadors, who seems exasperated at the treatment more than anything. Soon enough the corridors shift from a kaleidoscope of colors to cool purples, greens and blues, then fully into different blue hues. Before long, he makes it into a room that looks fit for a giant, which is true seeing as it’s the main meeting room Blue uses when she comes to earth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven gives the Diamond in question a smile, noting out of the corner of his eye a mostly pink gem at her feet. Volleyball maybe? For now he focuses on Blue though, as is polite, though she seems to have an almost mischievous look on her face once she spots him. “Hey, Blue, I’ve got the cultural class planners you wanted to take a look at. Hope I’m not interrupting anything?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He slides the folder of papers into a wall compartment, light scanning through it and sending the data over to the diamonds chair screens, already translated into gem runes. Blue ignores it though, instead giggling into her hand in a way that makes Steven shiver. Blue’s pranks tend to be… a doozy to deal with most of the time, on the rare occasions she decides to partake in them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, not at all, Steven. Though I do believe I have someone here who wants to meet you.” The Diamond looks down at the pink gem he’d not paid attention to up till now, and it only takes a moment to recognize her, his eyebrows raising in surprise. Before he can take in much other than Spinel’s face going from confusion to elation to fear, the bouncy gem has already launched herself across the room. “STEVEN!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stumbles slightly at the impact, chuckling as she rambles in worry, arms and legs wrapping around him several times so she can latch onto him like a tick. “-I can’t believe it, I mean, who could have?! I’m so sorry I can’t believe this-” “Spinel, calm down! What’s got you all up in a fuss?” He can’t help but laugh, the look of sheer concern on the elastic gem’s face is just too much. Apparently the fact that he can laugh calms Spinel down some, but the worry in her voice is clear. “Why am I-Steven, you got poofed! Of </span>
  <em>
    <span>course</span>
  </em>
  <span> I’m worried!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He isn’t sure what she’s talking about for a moment, but it soon clicks that she probably hasn’t seen much more than a glimpse of him in recordings since she went to live with the diamonds. He chuckles some more as he gently starts untangling her limbs from around him, speaking gently to try and help her calm down. “Spinel, relax, I didn’t get poofed. I grew up!” No longer on the edge of hyperventilating, she tilts her head in confusion, finally getting her own feet back under her. It’s weird for her to have to look up at him now, after the last time they met. “Grew...up? What’s that?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s a human thing. Think of it like...really slow shapeshifting, except it doesn’t happen consciously.” She nods slowly at that, thinking over the concept with a serious look on her face. Their conversation is interrupted by Blue however, who can’t seem to hold in her laughter anymore. Despite being tempered by the natural quiet politeness of the Diamond in question, her laughter still sends little tremors through the room, drawing both of the smaller gem’s attention back to her. “Well, it’s good to see that you’re both getting along just swell! Now, Spinel, why don’t you tell him why you’re here?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blue sends the stretchy gem a meaningful look, making Spinel rub the back of her neck with a sheepish chuckle before turning back to Steven. “Right, so...I wanted to start over with someone new, and so I’ve been with the Diamonds, which has been great! But, uh, you know that obviously. But, ehm, I feel a bit more confident about the whole ‘friendship’ thing, and I was wondering if you’d, maybe want to try starting over again? Only if you want to of course! If you don’t want to after everything, I’d totally under-” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Spinel squeaks a little at the feeling of a hand on her shoulder, only now realizing she’d started looking off to the side during her ramble. She looks back up at Steven, expecting the worst, but instead only getting a reassuring smile. “Of course I want to be friends again, Spinel. I’m glad you felt comfortable enough to want to meet up again.” That sends something warm and fuzzy through her gem, making her duck her head down for some unnamed thing that isn’t self-doubt, a little smile creeping onto her face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not sure how much time we’ll have to hang out today though, this was pretty sudden.” Steven faces Blue, who’s still looking at the two of them with her chin in one hand and a smile on her face. “We’ve got the whole meeting about the cultural class plans-” “Oh, yes, the plans!” The diamond pulls up the gem rune translation, putting the back of her hand to her forehead in feigned distress. “Oh dear, these will take forever to read through properly! I’m afraid you might as well run off, no point of you waiting around in this dull room while I work.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Considering she barely even glanced over the first page, the hybrid simply gives her a blank look, slowly pulling out his scroller. “Well, that clears up most of the morning, though I’ve still got a few meetings in-” Pulling the flexible plastic scroll open, he goes to the planner app and sees that all of his afternoon meetings for the day have been rescheduled. He looks back up at Blue with a deadpan stare, Spinel snickering next to him as the diamond keeps the same ‘woe is me’ pose. The diamonds are many things, but subtle is not one of them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After snorting and shaking his head, Steven gives the overdramatic gem a wave, taking Spinel’s hand and walking towards the hallway. “Well, since my schedule is mysteriously clear, I think I’ll take your advice and head out. Have fun, Blue.” “Oh, you too Steven, take good care of Spinel for me!” It takes a few moments to realize that he can’t hear Spinel following him, looking down at her gloved hand in his and seeing her arm stretching back to where they were standing, seemingly frozen on the spot. “Spinel? You coming?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</span>
  <span></span><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>The pink gem starts a little, shaking her head to clear her thoughts and hurrying to catch up, using the pull on her arm to speed up as much as her feet. Just as they’re leaving, she turns and gives Blue a little smile and wave, returned by the diamond as she starts to actually focus on her work. As the duo start to walk back to the hub, Spinel gets lost in her thoughts once more, though less her thoughts and more her feelings. Steven’s hand is...warm, and solid, and she isn’t sure what it is, but that touch makes her feel a lot more comfortable than it really should.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Looking him over now that she isn’t either panicking about his new shape or giving Blue the attention a diamond deserves, she can see it’s a lot more than just him having gotten larger. He’s taller yes, a bit more than a head taller than she is without stretching out her legs, but he’s a lot broader than he would have been if he just got sized up. His hair has changed, in longer, tight, curly ringlets, held back by a stretchy ring of some kind, falling down to just above his shoulders. And he has the curves of a soldier gem, muscle popping up against his skin with every movement, sending that same warm, tingly feeling through her gem that she feels every time she looks at a quartz too long.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Soo, how have you been the last few years, what have you been up to? You must have been pretty busy, right?” She stiffens slightly and tears her gaze away before Steven can see her staring, looking ahead as she processes what he actually asked her. “O-Oh! Well, I’ve been mostly staying with the Diamonds for the most part, helping spice things up and keep ‘em from gettin bored. Y’know, regular Spinel work. Sometimes I’d go to one of the other colonies though, see the sights an all that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh? I haven’t really been able to spend a lot of time off planet except for homeworld. What are the colonies you’ve been to like?” “Oh, they’re great! There’s this one moon, it’s around a gas giant in a two-star system, it gets </span>
  <em>
    <span>amazing</span>
  </em>
  <span> sunsets an’ eclipses and stuff all the time...” With the ice broken, it doesn’t take long for the duo to start ambling through a conversation, wandering from one subject to another and making the walk back fly by. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Spinel herself gets more and more animated, using her free hand and stretching it around into various shapes to show her points while Steven looks on in bemusement. She never lets go of his hand though, even when they finally make it out to the hub. Spinel is so engrossed in their conversation she doesn’t even have the presence of mind to get anxious about everyone whispering about seeing them. It’s only once they actually step up onto one of the pads that she notices all the stares.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now, Spinel isn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>bad</span>
  </em>
  <span> in big, crowded spaces. If anything, they tend to be comforting, all of the work and movement and busyness going on, it helps ground her in the now. But being stared at and whispered over by so many people makes her skin want to crawl. Thankfully the crystal chime and blue light of warp travel rises around her and Steven like a curtain, allowing her to relax and slow down her breathing a little.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, you ok?” It takes her a moment to register that he’s speaking to her, looking up at him with a surprised look on her face. It’s only then that she realizes that she’s wrapped more of her hand around his, snaking it up to wrap around his forearm a few times. The gem chuckles sheepishly, but she doesn’t untangle her arm from his, instead leaning up against his side. “Yeah, sorry, just a lot of starin back there. I don’t usually have that much attention on me. Pretty stupid thing for an entertainment gem to be scared of, I know.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, don’t go thinking like that!” She looks back up at him in surprise, and even after all the other times he’s comforted her, she’s still almost confused to see a kind of gentle understanding on his face, rather than condescension. “You’ve had consistent contact with, what, 5 or 6 gems? It makes sense a lot of looks would get you a little nervous. Heck, sometimes I still get nervous from all that attention.” The hybrid scratches at the back of his neck with a shy smile, and the humility there just </span>
  <em>
    <span>does</span>
  </em>
  <span> something for her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blue, Yellow and White are nice, they really are! But, they’re aeon old royal empresses, and even with Steven’s influence in getting them to be nicer and more understanding, they can be somewhat distant. It’s like, they love her, but in the same way one loves a beloved grand-niece. It’s hard to really connect with them on a close level, and they have specific expectations for her. With Steven, his whole aura is just like a big, welcoming hug. It’s almost overwhelming, but in a way that she can’t help but want more of. So, when he pats her on the head and says something along the lines of ‘don’t feel bad, you’re fine, I’m not going to judge you’ that she doesn’t really hear fully, she just pushes her face into the crook of his elbow for the rest of the warp and takes it all in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She really hopes she can get more of this feeling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As their warp falls back into real-space, Steven’s mind is whirring with plans. Nowadays, those plans would normally be about how to keep the Diamonds and earths countries from sparking a conflict, or mentally dividing out his time for the next week on different meetings with people all over the world. Right now though, it’s about all the different things he could show Spinel during his new free time. It’s a nice breath of fresh air.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Considering the stretchy gem’s reaction to the hub room, he’d changed his landing pad to the one in the beach house, deciding that walking to Beach City and letting her acclimate to everyone more slowly would be for the best. She’s definitely more willing to touch now, a bit like when she was still rejuvenated when they first met, but it could just be that there wasn’t really a chance for her to show that once she got her memories back, what with the fighting and all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t have any more time to reflect on it though, with the warplight fading in blocky shards to reveal Amethyst, currently raiding the fridge. Obviously hearing the chime, she speaks out, still halfway inside the freezer. “Hey, Garnet, that you? If you’re free I was...gonna...” Standing back up and slamming the door closed, The purple gem looks over only to be shocked to see the duo in place of the other duo she was thinking of. The salmon she was raiding slips out of her hand in the moment of awkward silence that follows.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven laughs a little sheepishly, looking at Spinel out of the corner of his eye when he feels her tighten her grip a little, the tenseness in her shoulders cluing him in to her anxiety. “Heey, Amethyst, we’ve got a guest!” “...Yeah, I see that.” She looks wary and a little suspicious, but not actively hostile at the sight of Spinel, so at least this isn’t a worst-case scenario. Steven lets out a little breath before nudging Spinel a little with his elbow. “Well, reintroductions! Spinel, you know Amethyst, she’s been working as a teacher at Little Homeworld. Amethyst, Spinel’s come back to experience more of earth now that things have calmed down more.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Spinel gulps a little and staples a nervous grin on her face, stretching her free hand out and bending it around the corner of the kitchenette table, holding it out for Amethyst to shake. “Yep, new experiences and all that! And, eh, sorry about...how we first met. Maybe we could start over?” There’s a tense moment where Steven’s favorite purple gem looks back and forth from Spinel’s stretched hand and her face. Eventually she sighs and shakes her hand, raising a brow at her. “Yeah, sure, not like you’re the first gem that’s tried to kill us that we ended up befriending.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There’s another long, awkward moment, before Steven remembers what Pearl had asked him earlier in the day. “Oh, yeah! Amethyst, Pearl said that you had to speak with her about something?” She seems confused for a moment, but realization comes over her as she facepalms. “Ah, shoot, I completely forgot!” She lets go of Spinel’s hand, allowing it to whip back to her side like a retracting tape measure. Amethyst scrambles for the screen door, swiping the salmon off the floor and chomping into it, plastic packaging and all. “I’ve gotta go find her, see ya later Ste-man!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With a slam of the door, Steven and Spinel are left alone once more, both of them letting out a sigh of relief for their own reasons. Chuckling a little, he gives her a smile, assuming the way she looks away with a shy smile is just embarrassment over the whole situation. “Well, that was...something. But now that we’ve got a moment, is there anything in particular you want to do now that you’re back on Earth?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hmm...” She has to really think about that for a moment. She’d kind of intentionally avoided anything to do with Earth and humans as best as she could, since it all reminded her too much of her screw-up. Still, with how prevalent the Gem-Human Peace Accords were, she kind of just absorbed some things by osmosis as much as anything. “Eh, Humans have to do that ‘eating’ thing a lot, right? Maybe we could try that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The summer heat bakes the sand and concrete, heat ripples rising along the roads in the distance as humans and gems walk along the boardwalk. What would otherwise be a sweltering day is instead pleasantly warm, the cool, salt-tinged air coming in from the ocean and the occasional poofy cloud covering the sun keeping the heat from becoming unbearable. Sitting under the shade of a big umbrella covering an outdoor bench, Spinel finds herself...calm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>People walking around, talking, laughing, the waves moving in and out on the shore, wind moving through the occasional tree or bush. All of this natural movement, things going about their day, nothing but the buildings ever staying still. Even the </span>
  <em>
    <span>sand</span>
  </em>
  <span> shifts in the wind, little dunes moving as she watches and waits. It’s peaceful, but not still. She could get used to this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey! Hope you didn’t have to wait too long.” Looking over at the familiar voice, She quirks a little smile at Steven as he balances several bags in his arms, carefully sitting across from her and dumping the food stuff on the hole-filled metal table between them. “I went around and got a bunch of samples of stuff, so you can try a whole bunch of things and see how you like it all.” He starts pulling all kinds of odd-looking items out of the bags, placing them around the table for her to look over.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, you’ll want to shapeshift a stomach by the way. It’s basically a bag in your body with a hole going from it to your mouth, so you can actually eat the food.” The hybrid fills the air with speech, taking a small yellow rectangle from a mini-bag and popping it in his mouth. “A bag-thing? Alright, should be simple enough...” Taking an unnecessary breath, she focuses internally, sensing her form for the first time in a long while.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She’s never really been one for shapeshifting, her stretchy powers usually enough to accomplish anything she’d need to do that shapeshifting could. On top of that, she’s not really proud of her current form, and ironically enough the few times she’s thought of shapeshifting to something else the focus needed to know her form always put her off, and she’s never felt desperate enough to ask someone to poof her over it. Here though, with how nice it is out, with what she hopes will be a good friend? She can soldier through some discomfort.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a few moments of focus, her hardlight begins to glow and deform, light peeking through her lips as a tube forms in her throat, burrowing down behind her gem and forming a little sack halfway down her torso. It feels a bit odd, and there’s that faintly holding-a-muscle-tense feel that comes with holding a shapeshift, but it’s not all that bad. She opens her eyes and gives the hybrid a smile. “Alright, I think that’s good. So, what do you think I should try first?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven hums a little, looking over the bounty between them, before pushing the mini-bag of long rectangles closer to her. “How about some fries? They’re pretty simple when it comes to what they’re made of, but still really tasty. Should be a good first food.” Tilting her head in curiosity, she pulls one of the ‘fries’ out, feeling the heat seeping into her fingers. With a mental shrug, she pops it into her mouth, slowly chewing it up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s salty and oily, with a crisp outside and a soft, fluffy inside that almost melts in her mouth. It takes a moment for her to realize she’s closed her eyes, a little, high noise escaping her that sends Steven into a chuckle-fit, making her pout at him childishly. She rolls her eyes at him, using a little of her stretchy powers to do the ‘swallow’ motion she’d seen him do. The now mostly tasteless mush starts sliding down the tube and-nope! Nu-uh, not happening. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She smacks her palm on the table a few times, before grabbing one of the empty big bags that the rest of the food came from and spitting the mush into it. Steven, the unreasonably concerned gem he is, is out of his seat, hands hovering near her in worry. “-my stars are you ok?! I’m sorry, I didn’t think you’d have that kind of reaction.” She waves him off, smacking her lips and making sure she didn’t miss any of the mush in her rush to get it out of her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Naw, don’t worry about it. These fry things taste great, for real, but that ‘swallowing’ motion? It’s a no from me.” He finally calms down, sitting down with a relieved sigh and grabbing another french fry. “Oh, that’s good. At least I won’t have to eat all this food myself, eh?” She laughs along with him, not quite sure what the joke is, but she’s an entertainment gem, she knows a joke when she hears one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You probably won’t like drinks though, which kind of sucks. I got like 4 different small sodas, but drinks are all tasty liquids you swallow.” He gestures to a few cylinders with long bits poking out the top, condensation covering their paper outsides. She looks them over, then back up at her hybrid friend. He doesn’t look disappointed, heck he’s probably one of the most understanding gem’s she knows, but…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Eh, might as well try it.” He looks back up at her in surprise as she grabs one of them, noticing the cool feel in her hand and the way something inside clinks as the cup moves. She raises a brow at him, as if he’s the one being weird. “What, you think I’m going to let some mush stop me from trying other things? Worst case I just spit it out again. You had to use that money stuff to get this all for me ‘cause you thought I’d like this all, I ain’t just going to ignore the rest because I didn’t like one thing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The gentle, happy smile he sends her at that explanation makes her gem tingle, and makes her very glad that her skin is already pink as she puts the straw in her mouth, looking away from him shyly. The liquid in her mouth is sweet and citrusy, boiling while cold and tickling the inside of her mouth. It’s such a surprising sensation that her swallowing the mouthful of soda is almost reflexive. The expected gagging never happens, and instead she grips the cup harder, starting to gulp the whole thing with amazed little hearts sparkling in her eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven laughs at the reaction, moving on to a slice of seafood covered pizza while he watches her down the sparkling lemonade like a man drinking water after being lost in a desert. “Well, good to see that you found something you like so much! So, I guess food and drink taste good, but you can’t swallow solid stuff?” Spinel, pouting a little at the now empty cup, nods a little, looking over the rest of the food. “Yep! I mean, I’m still gonna try everything, but I don’t think I’ll ever want weird mouth mush stuck in my body. This soda stuff just tickles me and tastes good.” Staring at Steven, she grabs a pizza slice of her own, slowly taking a bite and savoring the taste before spitting it back out into the fry mush bag. “And, uh, thanks, for letting me try all this out. What do you think we should do after this, anyways?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The smile he gives her is mischievous, a glint in his eye that reminds her that he is indeed a Diamond, and he apparently has a comparable sense of humor. It sends a shiver down her non-existent spine, but on his face it takes on a different meaning that makes her anticipate whatever he has in mind.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Who’s this Pink Stretch Armstrong and Why’s She on My Man?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Surprise, next chapter! A bit shorter than the last one, but I came to a good stopping point and I didn't want this to turn into a massive chapter that takes like 5 days to write. Definitely won't be writing a chapter every day, but I've got the inspiration for it right now so I'm on a roll.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <span>Biscuit: Hey, something came up. Maybe a Green-4 on Serious Scale. Can you stop by Funland when you get off work?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie sighs and slips her phone back in her pocket, her mother reprimanding her in her mind for taking her eyes off the road. Not like there’s much traffic in Beach City pretty much ever, but that’s what you get when your mom knows exactly how many car-related deaths are caused by texting per state every year. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Being a mayoral assistant is a lot of work. Mrs. Kofi-She insists on being called Nana, even during official functions-is a very forgiving boss and a good mayor, but paperwork is something that needs to happen, especially when running a town right next to the first Gem settlement, and a lot of that falls to her. Don’t get her wrong, she loves the work almost as much as her training sessions, and she’s practically a shoe-in for mayor once Mrs. Kofi retires, but it’s still nice to get to just sit down at the end of the day and relax. A Serious Scale situation means that’s likely not something that’s going to happen, though.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thankfully Green means it’s benign, though the 4 worries her. A 1 is something pretty harmless, but still needing attention, like a kid losing their pet. A 3 means that somebody hasn’t been seen in a day or two, or some construction project over in Little Homeworld has gone wrong and there’s now a destroyed building. There hasn’t been a Serious Scale issue over a 6 in 3 years, so a 4 is concerning enough that she edges the speed limit on her way to the theme park. She just hopes it isn’t another Fusion Kaiju Exhibition Match situation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Spinel had to admit, she wasn’t sure how things were going to go when she agreed to meet Steven again, but so far it’s been pretty great, if a bit overwhelming. The ‘roller coasters’ were great, though she was surprised to know that humans, fragile as they are, loved putting themselves in open seats on tracks that fling them around all over the place. She found cotton candy to be awesome like soda, it was like food she didn’t need to swallow, since it just turned into liquid like a drink!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She also found out what those strange, hard paper squares were for from when she’d been rejuvenated. It turns out they were like money, but it only worked in this ‘Funland’ place, and you could trade them in for appearance modifiers and anatomically incorrect replicas of earth creatures. Was Funland an independent territory? She’d have to ask at some point. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For now she was getting used to the feel of the handkerchief modifier tied loosely around her neck, dark red with the same smile the (diamond?) leader of Funland wore all the time printed on the side. She tugged at it, her other hand still loosely wrapped around Stevens. It felt surprisingly nice, having a piece of soft cloth on hand. It helped ground her in the present in a way, keeping the thought of dead roots around her boots out of her thoughts, stars drifting through the sky… another tug and she’s back on the boardwalk, next to Steven, with a human walking up to them with purpose.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The human is vaguely familiar, which is a surprise of its own considering how few of them Spinel’s met. A different skin color than Steven, more like a Tiger’s Eye then a Rose Quartz, with long, wavy brown hair down to just below her shoulders of a similar color. Covered in appearance modifiers, just like every other human she’d seen, a shirt with buttons under some kind of sharp jacket along with a pair of slim pants and flat, slipper-like shoes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Unlike most humans though, Spinel can see the way she moves like a fighter, practically gliding over to the two of them. Even if she doesn’t have the frame of a quartz, the pink gem can tell she’s got a build like one, even through her clothes, and the thought alone makes that warm fuzz go through her gem again, looking off to the side with a blush.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She happens to look at Steven in the process, and spots a look on his face between nervousness and some kind of deep, strong emotion she can’t quite place as he looks at the human. As the woman crosses her arms in front of them though, Spinel decides that she wants that look directed at her, too.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A Green-4, huh?” The woman’s voice drips with sarcasm that the pink gem can’t quite place the source of, but she can tell it’s some kind of inside joke from the way Steven almost deflates, chuckling sheepishly while the woman sighs and shakes her head. Collecting himself, he clears his throat and gives Spinel his full attention, which makes her straighten up, gripping her handkerchief and his hand a bit tighter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Spinel, meet Connie, my girlfriend. You’ve actually seen her before, before you left, though I don’t think you two were actually introduced.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Before you left</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Like Spinel hadn’t tried to destroy the planet. Still, she appreciated him not bringing it up, no reason to taint a first-second technically-impression. “Connie, this is Spinel, she came to hang out and experience earth now that things are a bit less crazy.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Spinel puts on her best ‘I’m definitely not nervous, I swear’ smile, taking her hand off of her modifier and holding it out for this Connie to shake. “Pleasure to meet’cha!” Their eyes meet and </span>
  <em>
    <span>wow</span>
  </em>
  <span>, that is a stare that pins you down and makes you want to look your best. This woman could make the most strict Agate sweat, but it just makes Spinel feel strangely bubbly, like she drank a gallon of soda. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When they shake hands, it’s entirely different than with Steven. Steven’s hand is strong but soft, like a gauntlet covered in a silky-smooth pillow. He could crush her hand like a Bismuth’s hammers, and she wouldn’t even notice before she’d already popped. This Connie’s hand feels like battle-hardened wire, strong and hard, covered in calluses that catch on her hardlight in curious ways that make her want to trace every crease. She feels dangerous to touch, but she’s choosing to hold the pink gem’s hand gently, but firmly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Pleasure to meet you, Spinel.” She almost misses Connie’s words, but she’s able to nod her head, a slightly more genuine smile on her face, bring her hand back to her handkerchief with a little disappointment once the human lets her go. “So, what’s a ‘girlfriend’, anyways? Is it like some kinda special human guard or somethin?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven looks almost nervous at her question, looking to Connie but receiving a look that Spinel had only seen on some of the more mischievous Agates after catching a subordinate doing something wrong. “Oh, yes, what would you say a girlfriend is, Biscuit?” The way Connie’s words purr out of her makes her form shiver in a way she isn’t sure how to handle, and it seems it does the same for Steven, who flounders for a moment.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah, well, uh...Oh! You know how there are friends, and then there are best friends, right?” At Spinel’s nod, he relaxes a little, continuing without seeming to notice Connie’s bemused expression. “Well, a girlfriend is to a best friend like a best friend is to a regular friend. So like, your closest friend. Connie’s been that for me and me for her for a long time.” He looks at Connie with that same deep look, this time returned by the human, and Spinel mentally files that as the ‘Girlfriend Look’.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Aaah, I think I understand...” Tapping at her chin, she thinks over this new information, organizing it into her understanding of how relationships work. While she does, she almost jolts at the spark of comedic inspiration she gets, that part of her mind that points her at how to get people to laugh. She sometimes forgets she still has it, even though it’s one of those innate things all Spinel have. Grinning a little, she pumps her fist in the air, looking at both of them to see their reaction. “Well, here’s to hoping we can all be girlfriends together!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie snorts, breaking down into little bleats of laughter that fill Spinel with the best kind of feeling. Steven seems to have just broken a little, sputtering and coughing on nothing as his face starts burning pink before eventually just putting one arm over his eyes like he’s trying to block out the world. She almost wants to be worried, but Connie isn’t concerned and that spark in her isn’t giving her any bad feelings, so she decides to overall take it as a win.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The drive in Connie’s car back to the beach house is thankfully not awkward, Spinel in the back peppering them with questions about earth and human culture, Steven and Connie in the front answering them with a practiced ease that comes from years of answering curious Gems. Eventually they make it inside, Steven setting up the safety instruction TV downstairs and showing the pinkette what it does and how it works.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven is comfortable enough in his clothes that he can keep Spinel busy while Connie goes upstairs, changing out of her work clothes and into some lazy clothes that she keeps in his closet for when she stays over, just some yoga pants and a loose shirt. When she gets back down, she can see Steven sitting at one end of the couch, subtly sweating just a little bit as he flips through channels, Spinel holding his hand again as she looks around the house in curiosity. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The gem freezes at the sight of Connie walking down the stairs, looking almost flustered before staring right at the TV. Definitely an odd gem. She shrugs it off and sits down on her other side, feeling the slight awkward tension slowly bleeding away as all three of them focus in on the movie Steven managed to find. She notices out of the corner of her eye how little bits of tension leave Spinel’s body, slowly leaning more into her and Steven’s sides.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eventually they settle on an old rerun of a classic movie, something about a young girl finding out about a hidden magical world hidden behind the real one. A bit campy, but pretty much everyone’s watched it at some point, and it looks like Spinel is interested enough in it, so it should be a good first experience with media. It takes a small force of will not to jolt in surprise when the gem slides her gloved hand into hers with the casualness of someone with little in the way of boundaries. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s actually kind of cute, like Spinel’s a kid that they’re babysitting for the day. For now though, Connie shakes the thought off and pulls her phone out, texting Steven so that the pink gem doesn’t hear their conversation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Jam: So, why’s Taffy Girl, Destroyer of Worlds here? And why’s she a Green-4?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Biscuit: Ok, 1, great name but don’t let her hear it. 2, I think the Diamonds helped set it up. Blue cleared my schedule for the day and dropped her on me. Green-4 because she’s safe but I panicked and I don’t know what to do with her.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Jam: Of course the Big Rich Aunts set it up. I mean, what do you want to do with her? I know there’s pink mom drama with her, so she isn’t just a random gem, but doesn’t she seem a bit more...snuggly than most gems?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Biscuit: I mean, she was like that when she was wiped too, so it may just be a Spinel gem type thing, but...I think she might be a bit touch starved. She was left to stand still on a rock in space since before mom started colonizing earth, and told not to move at all.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie leans back into the couch a bit more, sneaking a glance at the pinkette in question. She’s humming along to the-entirely unneeded, in her opinion, it kind of just comes out of nowhere-musical section of the movie, nodding her head side-to-side unconsciously. Music always seemed to impact Gems on a more physical level than humans, so it’s always interesting seeing them react to human music.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She takes a glance down at their connected hands, and to Connie it seems like such a strange thing, to want to hold hands with someone you’ve literally just met properly. But being told to stand completely still for literally </span>
  <em>
    <span>thousands</span>
  </em>
  <span> of years, no stimuli except for whatever you can make up in your head...she can kind of understand why someone would want to take every opportunity to feel other people. You can’t exactly hug one of the Diamonds or hold their hand after all, it’s like trying to hug a building.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Jam: I know we’ve established this before, but pink mom was the Biggest Bitch.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Biscuit: Big Mood.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Jam: But yeah, I can get why she’s all snuggly I guess. So, what’s the plan? She’s obviously attached to you, which is going to be a problem when you have to be Mr. Ambassador Man.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Biscuit: Well, I was hoping you could help out? Obviously long term she should be able to go out and make connections with people on her own and be alone without having issues, but if she can go and goof around in the mayor’s office, there’s a lot less chance of her accidentally causing a diplomatic incident.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Jam: Do you really think that’ll work? I’ve literally just met her.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Biscuit: She already seems to like you well enough. And I think she could use a strong, independent, beautiful woman to be her ‘Girlfriend’.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Jam: Lol. I hope you don’t try to butter up representatives the same way you do me. Ok, yeah, if Mrs. Kofi is fine with me bringing her in, I’ll be sure to take care of her while you’re off being the Big Friendly Diamond.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Biscuit: Thanks, it’s a big weight off my back. Love you, Jam!</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Jam: Love you too, Biscuit.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sliding her phone back into her pocket, Connie looks down at Spinel when the gem starts tugging at her hand lightly, finding her looking up at her with a curious look on her face. “Hey, so, this Isabella, right? Why’d she go after this Arcanum guy anyways? Everyone’s sayin that he’s some super-wizard, and she hasn’t even tried tellin her mentor about findin out the guy is gonna steal that stone.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Glancing up at Steven to see a smug ‘I told you so’ look on his face, Connie just snorts and gives Spinel her full attention. “Yeah, the story plot for this movie is a bit wacky. The official explanation is that Isabella is a stubborn kid and knows that her mentor would stop her from helping, but she’s also supposed to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>smart</span>
  </em>
  <span>, too, so I never really bought that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I was thinkin that too! This girl is supposed to be some kind of ‘magic prodigy’ ‘cause she did that awakening ritual thing so well, but that just seemed like she was strong, not skilled. Everyone’s givin her all this credit but she hasn’t even done much!” She can hear Steven groan in exasperation in the background, but all Connie can focus on is making sure the grin on her face is more friendly than predatory. She </span>
  <em>
    <span>loves</span>
  </em>
  <span> tearing apart plot holes in movies, and Spinel noticed all that her first time watching one? This may be more fun than she thought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven falls back onto his bed with a sigh of relief, dressed up in his baby blue pj’s. He watches while Connie rolls out two bed mats (gifts from one of the Japanese representatives), explaining to Spinel some of the background behind why some people use them instead of the frame bed Steven’s using. He’s glad that Connie’s taken the whole ‘we’ve got a gem with attachment issues’ thing so well, he has no idea how he could have dealt with all this without her. He has enough trouble in the Embassy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, humans need to do this sleep thing for 8 hours, </span>
  <em>
    <span>every</span>
  </em>
  <span> single day?” “Well, on average yes, that’s what people need to do to stay healthy. Some people need a little more or less in terms of sleep, or can push through it to get more work done, but it’s most efficient to just sleep when you get tired.” Looking at the pink gem, one hand holding approximately where her elbow would be while the other tugs at her new handkerchief and staring at the bed mats hard, he’s not quite sure what she’s thinking, but it can’t be anything good.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before he can try to get her attention, she grips the ‘chief a bit tighter and seems to come back to herself, looking between him and Connie with a shy, nervous look on her face. “...I’m, not sure I can really do that. I mean, I’m sure I </span>
  <em>
    <span>could,</span>
  </em>
  <span> but I don’t think I really want to. Is...well, is that alright?” The way she looks so </span>
  <em>
    <span>unsure</span>
  </em>
  <span> when she asks that makes his heart break a little, and it seems Connie feels the same way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, sweetie...” His girlfriend pulls the pink gem into a hug, Steven slipping next to them and wrapping them both up into a group hug. “I’m not going to say we’ll never make you do something you aren’t entirely comfortable with, but if you ever feel like you truly don’t want to do something like that, just let us know, ok?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Spinel seems...not shocked, exactly, but not entirely sure what’s going on or what she’s feeling. It takes a moment for her to recognize what she’s being told, but soon enough Steven can feel rubber band limbs wrapping around him, and he can feel her shake just a little in their grip. “Yeah...yeah, I can do that.” After a few moments, the gem’s arms unwind from around him and Connie, and he pretends not to notice how she wipes a little at her eyes. Instead, he reaches over to his bedside table.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a moment fumbling around and feeling for what he wants, he grabs his Gem Scroller, holding it out to Spinel. He pulls it open, letting her see all the different apps, swiping left and right with his finger while he speaks. “Since we’re going to be pretty unresponsive unless you shake us awake, you can use this tonight. A Peridot I know well started making these, you can look at the Rutia and catch up on all kinds of Gem stuff, even play some of the game apps that have been getting released.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The pinkette looks over the gem tech curiously, already opening up the Rutia app as he gets back up on his bed. Usually Connie would be in bed with him, but they’d unanimously decided to tone down on the PDA until they could explain that not all affection was as casual as holding hands or hugs to Spinel. Before he can get under the covers, he hears his phone go off, looking it over to see what it is.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Jam: I changed my mind, she’s Baby and we’re keeping her.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He cracks a smile, looking at Connie and seeing that gleam in her eye that he knows means she’s set her mind on something. He couldn’t get rid of Spinel even if he wanted to, now. Chuckling softly, he gets under the covers, feeling a lot better about the whole situation. “Good night, guys.” “Good night.” “Good night? Is that a human thing?” “Yep, it’s basically just saying that you hope that the other person sleeps well.” “Oooh. Good night!"</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So yeah, setting up more stuff ^w^ Spinel was stuck in a dead garden for millennia, no wind or animals or anything after everything died, so not only was she socially isolated but physically too, only having dead roots at her feet and the feel of her hands as physical stimulus. That compounded with being a naturally physical gem type, considering even after being rejuvenated she was all huggy and playful, and I feel like her being touch-starved makes sense.</p><p>Also, added some more to what Spinel gems can actually do. I mean, Sapphires can literally see the future, so I don't think having the ability to intuit potential comedy would be out of the way to program into a comedy-based gem.</p><p>Rutia is like the Gem equivalent of the internet, named after rutile-type minerals, which can grow into-aka 'connect'-a bunch of different gem types. Before Era 3 it was purely utilitarian and restricted to technical and communication gem types, but with the start of Era 3 it's been opened up to any gem that wants to learn how to work it. Peridot's everywhere rejoice! But yeah, let me know what you think, and let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Connie and Spinel's Day Out</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Ayy, 3 day chain! Probably not going to be able to go 4 for 4 though. This chapter is pretty much just pure, tooth-achingly sweet fluff and I love it, but let me know what ya'll think!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Absorbed in exploring the Rutia network as she is, Spinel doesn’t really notice the night going by. She intentionally ignored looking out the glass door once she saw the stars out, so it isn’t until sunlight starts peaking over the horizon that she refocuses on her surroundings. Steven and Connie are still doing the sleep thing, the former splayed out with his blanket halfway off and the latter on her side, looking strangely open while asleep, the seriousness that was always on her face at some level all yesterday completely absent now.</p><p> </p><p>Right on the edge of her hearing, she can tell that someone’s downstairs, the sound of metal things moving around reaching her ears. Tilting her head a little, the pinkette puts the scroller down next to Connie, walking down the stairs with feather-light steps so that her two human friends don’t wake up (and maybe a little because she’s not sure who’s downstairs and is a bit nervous.)</p><p> </p><p>As she walks down, she can smell food being cooked, like some of the food stands from the boardwalk but less noisy. Once she makes it down to the turn point of the stairs, it takes a moment for her to recognize who it is in the kitchen, but when she does she freezes up a little. It’s the fusion, Garnet, as tall as she remembers, but no longer in the form that, now that she’s seen the stuff, reminds her of cotton candy.</p><p> </p><p>Tall, put together, and with a well made form, she seems to be putting something together on the stove (one of the food-making implements Connie and Steven told her about). Spinel slowly makes her way down the rest of the stairs, watching the fusion move with a strange kind of familiarity. It’s less that it looks like she knows what to expect, and more like she knows <em> exactly </em> what’s going to happen and where she needs to position herself.</p><p> </p><p>Sitting down at the kitchenette table, it takes her a moment to notice that there’s already a big glass of some orange liquid in front of her, along with a small plastic package, which she picks up in curiosity. “It’s gum.” Spinel squeaks a little, dropping the package and looking up to see that Garnet is still working at the stove. “Strawberry flavored, you should like it. Gum is for chewing and tasting, not eating, so nobody will think it strange if you spit it out as long as you put it in a trash can when you do. The drink is juice, made from a fruit that is, oddly enough, called an orange, same as the color.”</p><p> </p><p>The maroon colored gem jerks a pan up, a tan disk flying through the air and landing neatly on a nearby plate. Looking back at her, Spinel finds the fusion facing her, arms crossed and leaning against the stove. The pinkette fidgets a little, tugging at her handkerchief for support before finally finding her voice. “Look, I...I want ta-” “No need to apologize.” “-Apbwah?” Stopped before she can really start, Spinel can only watch as Garnet pulls her star-shaped glasses off, three eyes filled with a soft concern pinning her to her seat.</p><p> </p><p>“Your reaction was extreme, yes, but it was one made from perfectly reasonable grief and rage. You didn’t have a good outlet for your emotions, so you did the first thing that made sense to you. The important thing is that you regret what you did, and you’re doing your best to be a better person now. If I can tolerate Blue Diamond after everything, I can certainly welcome you to the family.”</p><p> </p><p>Blinking a little in relief, confusion, and probably a few other emotions, Spinel somewhat goes on autopilot, reaching for the orange juice and saying the first thing that comes to mind. “Welcome me to the family?” Garnet’s third eye twitches just a little, and the fusion puts her glasses back on, light shifting across it before she smiles. “Ah, right, we’re not there yet. Don’t worry about it.”</p><p> </p><p>She decides to brush off the odd words, taking a sip of the juice with a content noise. She’s honestly a bit baffled at how much variety there is when it comes to the tastes available. “Well, thanks for forgiving me. And for the juice and gum.” She gets a simple nod in return, the fusion turning around and starting to stir something in a bowl while she talks. “A few things to remember before the others get up, Spinel. The small, barking creature isn’t going to attack you, it’s simply excited. Connie won’t be annoyed about buying the hairclips, if anything she’ll be excited to get them for you. And make sure to shapeshift behind the curtains before you change, it’s a human thing.”</p><p> </p><p>“...Sorry, what?” “Just some advice.” Before she can really respond to that, Spinel hears a low yawn behind her, twisting around 180 at the waist to see a drowsy looking Steven wandering down the steps, Connie only a few steps behind him with a bit more pep in her step. He almost still looks asleep as he sits down next to her, giving her and Garnet a sleepy smile. “Good morning guys, good to see you’re getting along.”</p><p> </p><p>Connie slips onto the stool on his other side, giving Garnet a smile in thanks while cradling a mug of something hot and bitter-smelling that the gem hands her. “Morning, you two. Everything alright down here?” Spinel simply gives them both a happy nod and a smile, Garnet sliding a plate stacked with the tan circles with some kind of syrup to Steven, along with some yellow fluffy material and mixed fruits to Connie. “Well enough. Steven, you’ll want to bring an umbrella, your meeting in Beijing is going to have a lot of rain. Connie, Nana won’t be in until about an hour later than usual, you can hit up that store and still get in on time.”</p><p> </p><p>This is apparently a set of words that makes sense, since Steven just gives the fusion a sleepy thumbs up as Garnet walks over to the temple door, mumbling out a ‘love you’ as Connie waves as the door opens and closes behind the gem. Blinking a little at the randomness, Spinel takes another sip of the juice to collect herself before speaking, feeling her spark light up again. “Well, that was an...experience.”</p><p> </p><p>That gets a drowsy chuckle out of Steven and a snort out of Connie, which she decides to take as a win. She fiddles with the ‘gum’ package, watching as Connie gives the hybrid a sip of her drink, Steven making a face at it but almost immediately seeming a lot more awake. Eventually she manages to get one of the rectangles out (different than the fries), making another one of those little sounds of satisfaction as she chews on it, all three of them enjoying the early morning atmosphere.</p><p> </p><p>Eventually, with the sun now properly up in the sky, her two human friends are much more awake and aware, Steven catching her attention as Connie goes up to his room to change. “Hey, Spinel, I’m going to be pretty busy today, how’d you feel about hanging out with Connie? I should be back around 9:00 tonight.” He keeps it casual, which she can appreciate, since she needs to grab her ‘chief to help her through the jolt of anxiety she feels. She knows he’s not going to just not come back, but...</p><p> </p><p>It’s the creak of the stairs that makes her look back, seeing Connie in a pair of similar clothes as to the day before which fully pulls her out of her nervousness. She isn’t waiting for Pink, she’s got other people to interact with. She can spend a day away from Steven. Looking at the little grin on her face and her still messy hair, Spinel lets out a breath and nods to Steven, giving him what she’s pretty sure is a reassuring smile. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. You go do all the Diamond things you need to do.”</p><p> </p><p>He lets out a sharp little laugh before shaking his head, ruffling her hair a little before getting up to change himself, wrapping an arm around Connie’s waist to give her a quick hug as they pass by each other. “Oh, yes, big strong Diamond man, off to do Diamond things. I’ll see you guys tonight!” Connie simply shakes her head in bemusement, picking up the plates and cutlery, along with her now empty cup, putting them in the sink for later. “Well, might as well head out now. If Garnet’s right then we’ll be able to check out some stores before I need to head into work. Maybe we can find some more stuff you’d like?”</p><p> </p><p>Spinel sends one last look in Steven’s direction before shaking away any lingering thoughts. “Sure, sounds fun! Stores are like restaurants, but for things that aren’t food, right?” She bounces to her feet, picking up the rest of her gum. Holding it up to her gem, it glows slightly as she <em> pulls </em>, feeling the material slip into the not-space inside of her mind. Curling her arm around Connie’s a few times as they walk out the door, she is decidedly happy with her decision to come back to Earth.</p><p>____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</p><p> </p><p>Beach City was only ever really a city in name and not much else. Too much strange magic craziness had happened there over its 200 and change year lifespan for anyone to really invest in the town, such that for most of the year Beach City is more of a framework than anything. Only the most foolhardy, stubborn families actually settle down permanently in Beach City, keeping the small population running mostly self-sufficiently, and slowly building up stock in whatever products they have to sell for tourist season, when the town becomes flush with people wanting some fresh ocean air, whether that be for a day, a week, or even for most of summer.</p><p> </p><p>It is thanks to this that Beach City was capable of handling the inevitable influx of people wanting to move in next to Little Homeworld once the Diamonds started organizing an actual, official presence on Earth with surprising grace, selling summer cottages to more permanent residents and renting out small business and restaurant buildings that would usually only open in the summer, allowing for the town to experience an economic boom, rather than a complete breakdown of supply and demand over the past few years. There are still bumps and issues that need to be smoothed out, of course, but overall it’s been an easy-if busy-process.</p><p> </p><p>That’s all a very flowery, diplomatic way of saying that Beach City has slowly turned into a chaotic, colorful mess to navigate through. The roads are built to be efficient and easy to navigate to lessen traffic, a mix of human road laws and the millennia of experience gem-kind has with organizing high density populations making it easy to get to where you want. The problem is that if you don’t know where you want to go, you end up driving around for 10 minutes, trying to find the building you want.</p><p> </p><p>A melting pot of human and gem culture, you can find old boardwalk buildings next to refurbished american chinese food restaurants, next to a dollar-rubles currency exchange building, next to a newly made Blue court aristocrat’s tower en miniature mixed with oriental japanese architecture. So yeah, a bit hard to figure out which building is the new clothes store that popped up that she wanted to check out.</p><p> </p><p>After a while though, Connie finds a parking spot near enough to both where the shop is supposed to be and the city hall, getting out with Spinel in tow. The pinkette is quite enraptured by all the controlled chaos, gawking around like a tourist of her own, such that Connie has to tug on her hand to get her to focus back on walking instead of just letting her arm stretch out. She chuckles a little when the gem whips back next to her with a little <em> boioioing </em> sound. “So, what do you think of the city?”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s crazy! There’s just so much variety, like, that building over there?” She points to what seems like a fusion between a medieval castle and a small skyscraper, partly overhanging the road at the third story. “That looks like some architects from the white and yellow courts got together for a party and just went at it.” </p><p> </p><p>They spend some time wandering, Connie pointing out different human architecture and some of the history behind them, with Spinel doing the same for gem based buildings. There is a moment where Spinel pretty much entombs Connie in her noodle arms when someone with a dog comes by, but after a moment she seems to realize that she doesn’t need to be scared, unwrapping her and letting her breathe. After some timid pats and some playful licks, the man and his dog are on their way, and Spinel has a thoughtful look on her face. After a few moments, she looks up at Connie idly rubbing some dog spit away.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, so, does Garnet give oddly specific advice a lot? Because she mentioned something about that...dog, right?” Connie nods patiently and the gem continues. “Yeah, dog. She mentioned it this morning, before you and Steven came down.” Connie hums thoughtfully, idly rubbing her thumb against the back of Spinel’s hand. If Garnet was willing to give the pinkette some future advice, then she must feel positive about Spinel being here. She probably wouldn’t mind if Connie explained a bit. “Well, she’s half Sapphire, so she has a variant of future vision-well, foresight is what Homeworld calls it.”</p><p> </p><p>“Essentially, Sapphires are capable of processing vast amounts of data, both from their own senses and from disconnected information imprinted into background radiation, subconsciously abstracting it all into the most likely line of future events. Garnet though, she can abstract that information multiple times, allowing her to see the future in probabilities, with the most likely outcomes being the clearest. It gives her a much cleaner picture of what could and most likely will happen, so she’s much more versatile than the average Sapphire.”</p><p> </p><p>“<em> Wow... </em> ” Connie blushes a little, falling out of ‘lecture mode’ to see Spinel looking up at her with little hearts sparkling in her eyes. “You’re <em> really </em> smart, Connie! I mean, you know all kinds of human stuff, and all this gem stuff on top of that? I would’a thought that only a Peridot or maybe a Forsterite would know that kind of stuff. How do ya do that?” The pinkette holds her hand with both of hers, and that look of clear adoration on her face makes Connie feel like she’s going to start steaming from all the blood that rushes to her own face. “O-oh, come on, it’s not that impressive-” “No, really, it is! You’re kinda amazing, y’know?”</p><p> </p><p>Oh no, she’s been broken. It’s official, Spinel is way too cute, she can’t handle this. Rather than clutching her heart and falling to her knees dramatically like she wants to, Connie just huffs and pulls the gem into a hug for a moment before starting to speed-walk to the store, ignoring the confused look on Spinel’s face as she drags the gem along with her. “Come on, we should get to the store soon. We’ll want some time to actually browse and try stuff on before we need to go.”</p><p>____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</p><p> </p><p>The store itself is nice, at least in Spinel’s opinion. It’s been refurbished with dark, polished wood walls and a dark blue carpet floor, few windows in view. The whole place is lit up by warm lamp lights, and it's mostly one big central room, rows and rows of hanging ‘clothes’ ordered by different sections. Connie seems to have recovered from whatever it was about what she said that got her all flustered. She’s not entirely sure what it was, since she was just being honest, she’s built like a fighter gem but has the mind of a researcher. </p><p> </p><p>But back to the store. As nice as the atmosphere is, she’s not really sure what to do? Like, the only article of clothing she has is her handkerchief, but that fits around her neck easily. Her form already has an outfit built in, so she can’t really wear a full on set of clothes. Looking at the easy smile that comes to Connie’s face when they step inside though, that doesn’t really matter as much to her.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, man, this is great! I usually go with practical clothes, but it’ll be nice to dress up a bit, even if we don’t get anything.” She pulls Spinel along with her to a specific section of the store, all kinds of different shapes and colors of cloth, letting go of her hand to sift through the hanging dresses and shirts. Immediately Spinel wants to feel that warmth again, but she settles for holding her ‘chief and staying nearby, looking over some clothes herself. </p><p> </p><p>They make some small talk with each other about what might look good on her, Connie taking things off the hanging rods and laying them over her arm, and soon enough Spinel forgets the need to have something in her hands, simply enjoying spending time with the human woman. Of course, then Spinel finds herself face to face with a frozen, pure white figure, and promptly squeaks in surprise and stumbles back, pressed up against Connie. “Woah, what’s wrong?”</p><p> </p><p>“O-oh, no, I’m fine, just...” She takes a moment to actually take in what she’s seeing, and notices that she is not, in fact, looking at a miniature White Diamond. The 3 figures seem like dolls more than anything, completely still with only the vague implication of features. “What exactly are these things? And why do they look almost human?” Connie hugs her from behind, trying to help her calm down with a chuckle. “Ah, yeah, you’ve probably never seen these before huh? These are mannequins, humans use them to help show off how clothes might look on different body types. Don’t worry, a lot of humans find them creepy too.”</p><p> </p><p>Spinel shivers a bit, as much because of the close contact as the creepy not-gems. After a moment though, she thinks about what they’re actually for, and remembers Garnet’s advice from that morning. “You know, I could probably shift to look like them, so we can try clothes on together?” Connie perks up, letting go of the hug to look at her properly, giving her an excited little smile. “Oh, that’s a great idea! You like that handkerchief, so maybe you’ll like some other clothes. Maybe leave your head the same though, mannequin-face would probably just look like a nightmare.”</p><p> </p><p>Spinel ends up pulled into Connie’s energy, holding the clothes she’d pulled out for herself as the woman takes down a variety of clothes for the pinkette. Before she knows it, they’ve gone out of the main room and down a short hall, finding themselves in a small room with a bunch of floor-to-ceiling curtains. <em> Now </em> the fusion’s words make more sense. “Okay, I’ll go in this one, you go in the one next to mine, and when we’ve both got an outfit on, we both come out. Got it?” At her nod, Connie smiles and takes a couple of things from her pile of clothes, both piles on a nearby bench, before slipping behind a curtain.</p><p> </p><p>She takes an affirming breath, deciding to start simple, grabbing a dress from the top of the pile and slipping behind her curtain. There’s another small bench, along with a full-body mirror, giving Spinel a good look at herself for the first time in quite a while. It’s...a form. She isn’t particularly proud of it, but it’s functional. For now though, she takes a good look, closes her eyes, and does one of the biggest shapeshifts she’s ever had to do, keeping the mannequins in mind as the mini room fills with light.</p><p> </p><p>Her head and hair stay the same, she agreed with Connie that making her face a blank wall would just be weird. Her pauldrons and outfit fade into light, torso sculpted into a less simple shape, arms and legs following suit. When she opens her eyes again, she looks...human. Her limbs aren’t noodly, no gloves or boots, hips a few inches wider to give her body more shape, but still slim and petite. She wasn’t really sure what else to do, so she just went with smooth hardlight everywhere, even though she somewhat remembers hearing that humans have different holes and stuff.</p><p> </p><p>When she slides the dress over her head, it hangs on her comfortably, practically swaddling her in soft cloth. Two strings hold it on her shoulders, a pink ribbon bunching it in close to her waist as the cloth flows to her knees, and the faint floral patterns on the white cloth add some more color to contrast with her still pink skin. She looks...alright? It feels pretty good actually, despite feeling vaguely like she’s holding her breath in holding her form like this, but the only thing that gives away the fact she’s a gem is the very tip of her gemstone poking above the neckline, her skin tone, and the fact her tear marks are part of her skin.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, you ready to see how we look?” She starts a little at the sound of Connie’s voice, suddenly nervous about what she’ll think. “Eh, yeah! I’m stepping out now.” Taking a deep breath, Spinel steps out behind the curtain, and sees beauty. Connie looks good in general, even when covered up in the ‘business casual suit’ she came in to the store in, which is apparently what she always wears to work. Last night, Spinel saw her in a loose shirt that hung off of one shoulder, and a pair of tight fitting pants that showed how well toned her legs are. This though? It makes her mouth water and go dry at the same time.</p><p> </p><p>Stylish faux-leather pointed toe boots give her another inch or three from the thick soles, laced up to halfway up her calves. Tucked into them is a pair of skin tight, stylishly torn high-waisted jeans that let Spinel see every curve and muscle from the waist down. She has a blue cashmere shirt, cropped to stop at the bottom of her ribs to show off her toned stomach, a fake fur lined long sleeve jacket over that to fill out the outfit. </p><p> </p><p>Spinel’s stomach flip-flops at the sight of Connie flipping her hair out from where it got stuck between her shirt and jacket, finding herself with a lot of feelings that pretty much sums up to ‘Wow, I want her to squeeze me til I pop like a water balloon’. <em> That </em> nearly makes her let go of her shapeshift out of surprise, shaking her head before noticing that Connie seems to have frozen at the sight of her too. “S-so...how do I look?”</p><p> </p><p>Connie blinks away whatever it is she’s thinking, pulling Spinel into another hug-<em> oh stars she’s going to pop her </em>-and giving her a light squeeze, pulling her phone out with a squeal. “Oh my god, you look so cute! Oh, we should take a picture!” Spinel stammers a little at being called cute, only having the state of mind to smile and put up the peace sign at the phone held up to snap a picture of the two of them.</p><p> </p><p>After nearly cracking from overheating on all her flustered emotions, Spinel and Connie continue trying on different outfits. Connie puts on a variety of clothes, from flowing dresses that she pulls off much better than Spinel can to more ‘poof me please’ outfits that she can barely look at before she starts blushing. </p><p> </p><p>Spinel doesn’t like wearing the dresses all that much, even if Connie says she looks cute in them. They’re a bit too flow-y for her, she’s not sure what it is about it but it just doesn’t feel quite right. Shorts, pants, and skirts are all fine though, same with most of the shirts she puts on. Her favorite outfit is probably the jean shorts and cropped, sleeveless halter shirt she found. </p><p> </p><p>They hug her well so she can feel them all the time, and it’s simple enough that her handkerchief adds to the outfit, instead of seeming out of place. She’d been chewing on one of her gum sticks when she came out, blowing a bubble as she’d learned she could do, and Connie had taken another picture of Spinel with a strangely hungry look on her face while muttering something to herself, simply giving the pinkette a smile and a pat on the head when Spinel asked what was going on.</p><p> </p><p>Thankfully for the sake of her poor gem, she and Connie eventually have to leave, Spinel letting go of her body shift with a breath of relief. As they walk up to the sales counter, Connie having decided to buy a few pieces after all, something catches her eye. A little spinning column-shaped rack sits on the edge of the counter, covered in molded bits of metal and plastic made to look like gemstones.</p><p> </p><p>They come in a variety of shapes, including hearts and flowers that look nice, but Spinel can’t see herself wearing them. What grabs her attention is the pair of hairclips that look like little four-point stars, a yellow painted nickel-tin alloy with some kind of clear resin dyed pink. They look nice, familiar, but not for the wrong kind of things. It’s a shame, she doesn’t have any money so she’d have to ask Connie to buy them for her, but...oh,<em> that’s </em> what the final piece of advice was for!</p><p> </p><p>A few minutes later, she and Connie walk out of the store, a few bags heavier and with Spinel holding her pigtails with her two new accessories, rather than the automatically made hairbands she’d always used before. She could still barely look at Connie without getting flustered, but she feels light as a feather, even though she hasn’t changed her personal gravity at all. It’s been a good day so far.</p><p>____________________________________________________________________________</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Jam: AAAHHHHH!!!1!! </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Biscuit: Woah, wait, what happened? Do I need to warp over?! </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Jam: Image: [Flower Child.jpg] sent </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Jam: SHE’S TOO CUTE MAKE HER STOP </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Biscuit: ksfd;lkjsdf ok yeah that’s adorable. Did she shapeshift or something? </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Jam: Yeah, we went to a clothes shop for my sudden free hour. She’s pure baby? And my heart? I’m not sure how much more I can take. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Biscuit: Too bad, you’d die for her and you know it. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Jam: Why you gotta call me out like that </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Biscuit: Lol </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Jam: Image: [pUNK BAB.jpg] sent </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Jam: PUNK BABY PLEASE NO </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Biscuit: Aah, stop, I need to focus on my meeting, I can’t be Mr. Serious Man with a giant smile on my face! </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Jam: You put me in this hell, this is your punishment!  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Even though he complained about it, Steven drew energy from those selfies, it helped him get through the day considering the dreary weather pounding down pretty much all day in Beijing. He was glad to be in the warp back home though, he wanted to sit down and just not think for a bit, maybe watch some cheesy rom-com with Connie and Spinel. </p><p> </p><p>Entering real-space again, he can see Connie and Spinel from the pad, sitting on the couch and watching something on the TV. Before he can do much more than smile at them, he has a springy pink missile launched at him, Connie laughing on the couch like a traitor while he pinwheels his arms to make sure he and Spinel don’t end up on the floor. “Steven! I’m glad you're back, come on, you've got to help us.”</p><p> </p><p>He snorts a little as she slips back down to the ground from where she’d been hanging from his neck, grabbing his hand and dragging him over to the safety training TV. “Ok, where’s the fire?” He sits down next to his girlfriend, Spinel sitting down on with her legs under her on his other side with a confused look on her face. “Huh? Oh, no, there isn’t a fire. Connie showed me this mystery show, and we’re picking apart all of the plot holes as we watch, we need a third opinion!”</p><p> </p><p>He turns to give Connie the driest look he can even as she leans up against his arm, snuggling in to get comfortable. “You’re getting her hooked on Lonely Stars? Really?” “Hey, it’s not a well made show, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not fun to tear apart!” He simply sighs in exasperation, grabbing some popcorn from the bowl on the coffee table, looking over to see Spinel sucking on a juice pack. This is nice, it really is. Even with a terribly made series making his eyes want to pop out of his skull, these two make it fun.</p><p>____________________________________________________________________________</p><p> </p><p>That night, while Steven and Connie are fast asleep, Spinel has the hybrid’s Scroller in hand, staring at the blank search screen in contemplation. These last few days had been some of the best she’d had since...well, the best she’d had in a long while. One thing that she’d been hung up on was how she’d looked in the clothing store. She had looked good, and that was with a half-hearted shapeshift that took like 20 seconds to make.</p><p> </p><p>It might be time to make a change.</p><p> </p><p>She takes a deep breath, running her fingers through her hair, catching on one of her new hairclips. Having some clothes other than her handkerchief to wear would be nice. Firming up her resolve, she looks up ‘Human Anatomy’ in Rutia, ready to do some research.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Foreshadowing, mwahahaha! But yeah, a lot of artists like drawing a more humanoid Spinel, which I like as well (and makes for better lewdness overall), but rather than having it be something that just happens I decided to make it somewhat of a point of character growth. Also, Garnet totally has a soft spot for Spinel and ships her, Steven and Connie hard. She knows things that you all will only figure out in time, mwahahaha!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. New Body, New Me! [NSFW]</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Heck yeah, still technically posted this on day 4, my streak is still going! But yeah, there's a sex scene, I'm kind of iffy on it's quality but I tried to do it justice. The separate blocks of perspective didn't really gel well in this chapter except for Spinel at the end, so this is more like a 3rd person perspective chapter.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Things had started to get into something like a regular schedule once more, a week into having Spinel around. For Steven, he was still busy with meetings a lot of the time, but in the time that he had available he’d either wander over to city hall to meet up with Connie and Spinel, or if they’d stayed home for whatever reason he’d get some quality hang-out time in with them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thankfully Kofi was totally fine with having the pinkette around during work hours, especially once they’d gotten her a gem scroller of her own so that she’d have something to do in the quiet moments where Connie needed to focus on her paperwork. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The stretchy gem had already had some important points of character growth in just this first week. She’d been a bit reluctant, but he’d managed to convince Spinel to sit down and have a talk with Pearl and Volleyball, and after probably the longest amount of time where he’d been around but not in constant contact with her since she came back, she came out puffy eyed but almost visibly lighter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She’d also slowly begun changing in behavior. Not in any major way, but he’d noticed that she’d become a lot more casual and less alert around him and Connie. When she’d first returned and when around other people, Spinel sits up straight and proper, always keeping people in the corner of her eye when possible, speaking politely and relatively properly, albeit with her characteristic accent. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now though? Well, she was currently sprawled across his and Connie’s laps while they lazily watched season 3 of Lonely Star in his room like a pile of taffy in a vaguely cat-like posture, one foot swinging back and forth and her face in her scroll. It’s like she’d slowly been progressing from timid child to lazy teen, which Steven took to mean that she was comfortable having a lowered guard around them. Connie took it with a completely straight face to mean that Spinel was leeching off of them and their food and needed to get a job, which always got a chuckle out of him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Of course, life loves to throw Steven curveballs, in this case from Spinel herself. As he picks up his drink from the bedside table to take a drink, Spinel slowly winds back her limbs into something resembling normal anatomy, turning onto her back to give both of them a carefully casual look. “Hey, Steven, Connie?” When Steven nods and Connie gives her half of her attention, still focused on the show, she continues as if she was asking one of them to grab her a snack. “Could one of ya just, squish me like a bug real quick?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven, of course, does a full on spit-take, coughing while Connie chokes on a surprised laugh, Spinel simply snickering at their reactions like the little pink devil she is. After thumping his chest a little and making sure he can speak, he gives her a raised brow, Connie leaving the Gem Talk to him for now. “Uh, any particular reason why you wanna be poofed?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She looks away from them, seeming to blush a little as she explains, idly fiddling with her ‘chief to gather her thoughts. “Well, a couple things. Shiftin a stomach is fine, but I have to wait for whatever I drink to evaporate before I can drink more, and if I lose focus I’d end up projectile vomiting anything in my stomach out. I figure havin some actual pluming built in would be for the best if I’m gonna keep doin that kinda stuff. And, well, clothes are nice too, but I can’t shift for that since anythin too concentration-catching would make me tear out of anythin that’s not super baggy. And, I...” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She drifts off into mumbling, too quiet for him to hear. Connie leans in a bit, poking her in the belly as she starts pouting and looking off to the side. “You want to try saying that last bit again, sweetie?” The pinkette wiggles a little in their laps, doing interesting things for Steven that he has to flush from his mind before any real thoughts on the matter form once Spinel’s answer bursts out of her like a small explosion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>I liked lookin like a human, okay!</span>
  </em>
  <span> Clothes are comfortable, and I really liked how I looked in ‘em. I even practiced full-body shiftin in the bathroom mirror downstairs, but Spinel’s ain’t made fer it so I can’t hold it all that long...” Steven, somewhat stunned, looks over to Connie, who has a similarly surprised expression. After a long moment of Spinel pouting, they both break into laughter, Steven sitting the pinkette up to give her a big hug, his girlfriend joining in whole-heartedly. Spinel, thankfully, is a lot less surprised at this point to be receiving positive reinforcement, snuggling into the group hug with a pout that’s mostly just for show.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course I’ll poof you so you can feel more comfortable! Heck, I’ve done it for Amethyst a few times when she wasn’t feeling like her current form outfit was good enough.” “This is somewhat unprecedented though, I don’t think any gem other than maybe pink mom has tried to specifically look as close to human as they can.” Spinel perks up a little at Connie’s words, breaking the group hug a little to stretch her arm out, grabbing her scroller off the floor and opening it up for both of them to see.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I’ve been studying! I started looking up human anatomy and what humans look like underneath their clothes, and even started putting together some sketches and references so I can hold them in my mind better when I’m reforming.” With both of them peeking over the pinkette’s shoulders, the gem can’t see the way both Steven and Connie start blushing heavily, to the point that a cloud of steam might as well be gathering above them. Spinel’s ‘references’ are a mix of anatomical charts and pornography, mostly of female bodies.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The hybrid of the group, being a ‘properly raised gentleman’ (aka, Pearl coddled him on the whole sex-ed thing), looks away from the screen with a burning face, looking over to see his girlfriend's reaction. Connie’s parents were a lot more forward and open about the subject of sex once she hit puberty, preferring that their daughter be informed rather than confused. As such, she blushes but keeps a cool head, gently placing her hands over Spinel’s and guiding her to close the scroller.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let’s call it a good prototype for your form, alright?” The gem, obviously confused about their reactions, simply nods her head. “Great! How about you look over those references one last time before you poof, just to make sure it’s fresh in your mind? I’m just going to steal Steven real quick.” Spinel, the angel she is, simply nods and opens the scroller once more, allowing Connie to drag her short-circuiting boyfriend over to the corner of his room, patting his cheek to get him back in the present.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright, we need to have a quick talk. We both know that when Spinel reforms in a body like that, she’s going to have the HS response for </span>
  <em>
    <span>all</span>
  </em>
  <span> of those specified body parts. Considering how touchy-feely Spinel is with us specifically, I think we both know what’s going to happen.” Still flustered, Steven takes a deep breath, Connie’s logical thoughts giving him a mental anchor so that he isn’t just a bundle of ‘bwah’. “Yeah, it’s going to be a doozy. I guess we have to ask how we’d feel about that, huh?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie rolls her eyes at his timid expression, crossing her arms in exasperation. “Biscuit, we’ve </span>
  <em>
    <span>watched les porn together,</span>
  </em>
  <span> I’m very much fine with another girl. She’s cute and meshes well in our relationship. Are </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> alright with potentially bringing her in?” He’d blushed even more, but calmed down once she brought up the less physical problem. He knew how to do relationships, so he gives a casual shrug as he replies, leaning a bit against her side as he looks over at the gem on their minds. “Of course I’m fine with it, Square Mom </span>
  <em>
    <span>is</span>
  </em>
  <span> a relationship and we know two poly ships. I just wasn’t really expecting this, is all.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie simply sighs at his words, mumbling something about density before giving him a peck on the cheek, grabbing his hand to guide him back over to Spinel. The meaningful look she gives him says everything he needs to know, the half-language that can pass between them when they’re on the same wavelength. Connie flops down on the bed next to Spinel, knocking the gem out of her focus and making her look at them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright, we’re all set. You’re positive you want to do this?” A determined look comes over the pinkette’s face, giving Connie a firm nod. “Yeah, I’ve thought it over a lot this last week.” Connie smirks at Spinel’s squeak as soon as she’s done speaking, lifted up into the air by Steven’s sturdy, broad arms. “Then it’s time for a SUPER STEVEN HUG!” The gem snorts once she realizes what’s happening, cackling in his arms, getting a chuckle out of Connie and Steven. She gives them both a smile and cheesy salute as he starts to increase the pressure on her, getting the last word in. “Be back soon!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finally, with a sound suspiciously similar to a squeaky toy and an explosion of light and smoke, Spinel disappears, her gem falling into the crook of Steven’s arm. He gently moves it to his hands, gliding a thumb over the large gem’s surface with a fond smile on his face. Moving over to one of his walls, he finds an empty cubby square, carefully placing her gem down along with her ‘chief and hairclips where they will be safe. “See you soon...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When a pair of slim arms wrap around him from behind, Connie’s chin hooked over his shoulder to look down at Spinel’s gem with him, he leans back into her a little, happy to have her with him. He’s always been a little iffy about poofing recreationally, too much time early in his life associating it with someone being ‘hurt’ in a fight. He doesn’t have much time to dwell on it though, seeing as Connie snuggles closer to his ear, purring out her words in a way that gets him flustered all over again. “Hey Steven~”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>[Aww Shit, it’s Lewd Time]</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’ve got a while before Spinel reforms, which means that we’ve got a bit of free time to ourselves. Aaall alone. No one around~” Now, let it be known that Steven and Connie have a healthy relationship. They love each other very much, and sex is more of a cherry on top, rather than an integral part of their interactions. That being said, they are both young adults who haven’t had much of a chance to really get into it for a full week, so when one of Connie's hands drifts down his stomach, fingers gliding along the front face of his gem, he gets the picture </span>
  <em>
    <span>very</span>
  </em>
  <span> quickly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh? And what exactly do you want to do to fill that time, Jam?” Turning around in her arms, Steven slides his own arms around her waist, leaning in close to her. It’s been a pretty good day, so he’s a few inches taller than her, but still plenty close enough for them to kiss. It quickly goes from cute, chaste pecks to a full-on makeout, so it takes a few moments for her to reply, voice heavy with want. “Mmm...we can fill the time with </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> filling </span>
  <em>
    <span>me.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sounds like a great time, but there’s one problem...” Steven smirks at the raised brow Connie gives him, making his move before she can ask what’s wrong. “I’m not Steven, I’m a Caveman!” With his arms around her waist and Diamond strength, it’s easy to lift his girlfriend up and onto his shoulder, one hand on her butt to keep her steady. “I’ve got to take you to my cave!” She snorts, cracking up as he takes exaggerated steps over to the bed, swinging her legs in the air dramatically. “Oh no, I’ve been kidnapped! Whatever will I do!?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Me Cave-Steven! Me want cave wife!” He laughs along with her, pitching his voice lower to play on the act more. Even as she laughs, Connie leans up, locking her legs around his toro while lifting her pajama shirt up and off of her, tossing it to the side. With just her yoga pants and a sports bra on, her physique is put on display, lean, toned muscle on her slender frame giving her an olympians body. “Yeah, well, your cave wife needs some lovin, so you’d best get those clothes off mister!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Still latched onto his torso, Connie presses her chest into his face, giggling at the little kisses he starts peppering the top part of her chest with. She grabs the back of his shirt, starting to tug it up, humming in pleasure at the little squeezes he gives her butt through her yoga pants. Steven for his part is doing his best to pull her sports bra off of her with his free hand without being able to see. Connie may only have B-cups, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to try and smother himself in them!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finally making it to the bed itself, he turns and sits down on the edge of it, finally letting go of Connie to help her get his shirt all the way off. With him leaning back and both of them bare-chested, she’s able to snuggle up to him more easily, knees on the edge of the bed on each side of him, pulling him back into a makeout session while grinding her crotch up against the hard, smooth edges of his gem.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now, Steven is no longer a pudgy little kid. Admittedly, he does have a bit more padding than Connie even now, but underneath that is thick, strong muscle woven together with the hardlight of a Diamond, essentially making him a quartz-framed beefcake with the strength of a mountain. This has several implications, one of which is that the weight of Connie on his chest and stomach might as well be air, along with the fact that he has to be very careful not to use too much strength when they fuck.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thanks to this, there is a quiet unanimous agreement between them that Connie is the one ‘in charge’, despite the fact that it’s not so much domming as deciding how they’re going to be having sex. So, when she pats the knot of his pajama pant’s string mid-makeout, slowly sliding off his lap to stand in front of him, he gets the implication and starts working to get them off. She joins him with a bit more showmanship, swinging her hips side to side in front of him as she starts to peel her yoga pants down her legs, her panties sliding away with them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With all the foreplay, it’s not surprising for either of them to be ready and raring to go. Connie, standing in front of him in all her glory, slick wetness already collecting between her thighs, leans over to catch him in another kiss. She keeps it chaste, starting to trail more loving pecks down his neck and chest, slowly kneeling down between his legs as she goes. Steven, breathing heavy in anticipation, already rock hard (pun intended), cock twitching when she trails her fingers down its length.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She takes a minute to give his gem a polish, kissing and licking the smooth, warm facets and table of the crystal. She’d learned early on that even though Steven can’t feel her ministrations on his gem like he can feel her slowly rubbing her hand up and down his cock, the touch and intimacy does something for his gem half, shown in the way it starts to glow faintly like a mood light, softer than if he were summoning his weapon or trying to fuse.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The whole time she keeps her eyes locked on his, enjoying the way he twitches and breathes heavier whenever she hits a sweet spot, blushing hard enough he might as well be glowing all on his own, gem or not. Despite the fact that he could lift a building like other people do a 10 pound weight, he’s always weirdly shy and adorable when it comes to sex. For now though, it’s time to focus on the main event.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Unlike some kind of hentai protagonist, Steven does not, in fact, have some kind of monster sized dick. He’s a respectable 6 inches, a perfectly average length, but he is quite thick. With just her one hand wrapped around his length, there’s a good inch and a quarter of space where her fingers don’t touch, which makes for a fun time, albeit turning blowjobs into a bit of a challenge. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven isn’t idle while his girlfriend teases the hell out of him though. He’s had plenty of time to get more fine control of his powers, so rather than let Connie have all the fun, he focuses a little, even as he stretches the fabric of his blanket under his clenched fingers when she starts licking up the length of his cock. His gem glows a bit brighter, and a thick-edged diamond segment of hardlight forms right between her thighs, anchored to the air and pressed up against her entrance. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With a hum of appreciation, she starts grinding up against the hardlight edge, sending a shiver up his spine when the vibrations go right into his twitching member. They spend a good minute like that, Connie slowly teasing Steven and getting him all lubed up with spit, getting herself worked up by grinding against some literal magic light. Her life is just the best kind of weird. Eventually though, she slinks back up, sliding onto his lap and trapping his cock between both of their bellies.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Both of them breathing heavy, they kiss once more, keeping it to short but sensual smooches so they can catch their breath. “So...I’m thinking....maybe Flexible Cradle?” Panting out her question, Connie leans away slightly, taking a moment to turn around in his lap so that she’s leaning against his chest, her slick entrance grinding against the top side of his cock. Steven starts massaging her spread thighs in response, nipping at her neck with little kisses that make her shiver in just the right way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You sure? We usually save that for special occasions.” “I mean, this is a special occasion. This is probably some of the last sex we’ll have as just a duo, after all.” “Mmm, you make a solid argument...” She snorts, giving him a peck on the cheek when he looks at her. “You say that like you don’t want to fuck me stupid. Now let’s get started, we haven’t been able to do it for a week!” He mumbles sheepishly into her neck, scratchy stubble tickling her before he gets back into the groove.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In one smooth movement, he slides his hands under Connie’s legs, hooking the insides of his elbows around the undersides of her knees, pulling her knees up to her shoulders and pinning them there. It’s very similar to a full nelson position, but with Steven’s strength he doesn’t need to lock his hands behind Connie’s head, instead using them to fondle her boobs and tease her nipples. With Connie’s flexibility, her torso barely bends from having her knees pinned near her ears, and she can slip her arms between her waist and thighs, allowing her to guide his cock right to her entrance.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Pulling the brownette down onto his cock with one smooth, slow movement, Steven and Connie both groan in pleasure, the position letting the hybrid feel how tight Connie is, and allowing her to relish the way Steven fills her up and stretches her out in all the right ways. Wet clapping fills the air, along with grunts and moans, half-gem stamina allowing Steven to stand up and fuck Connie into a blissful pleasure coma.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Time blurs as they get lost in the motions, sweat building from exertion as they both near the finale. Soon enough, breath heaving in their chests, they lock lips once more as they cum, a rush of white and clear leaking from Connie’s stuffed slit, sparkles of light filling the room in the gem equivalent of an orgasm, giving the room a literal rosy glow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Slowly sitting back down on the mattress, Steven gently releases his armlock on Connie’s legs, letting her lean back against him and relax her legs from the 10-minute long stretch, essentially using his lap and front as a chair. Once they’ve had a moment to relax, he wraps his arms loosely around her waist, snuggling into the crook of her neck. “Well...I definitely missed that.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie snorts at the understatement, bringing one hand up to run it through his ringlets in lazy motions. “Hell yeah, I’d say I’m going to be sore by the end of the day, but your spit covers that.” He chuckles and closes his eyes, hugging her a bit closer as she does the same. In a moment of unanimous decision, the room glows with a much more intense light as two become one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The new figure takes a moment to just </span>
  <em>
    <span>be</span>
  </em>
  <span>, bringing their arms up above their head in a nice stretch and letting out a long sigh. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>haaah</span>
  </em>
  <span>...I know what you guys were thinking, but also screw you because now I’m a sticky mess, and I need to wash myself and the bedspread with no clothes my size.” They stand up, making sure to duck a little as they gather up the bedsheet, starting to walk over to the stairs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m just glad none of the gems are here, Pearl would </span>
  <em>
    <span>freak</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” They pause next to the cubby hole Spinel is waiting in, a gentle smile coming to their lips as they trace a finger along the girdle edge of the gem, slender digits like Connie’s but smooth and without calluses like Steven’s. “Too bad I didn’t get to see you this time. Don’t worry though, I can’t wait to meet you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>[Lewd Times are Over, Carry On]</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Reforming is an odd experience for sure. Spinel doesn’t really remember what exactly she did in her gem, just the vague notion that she had done what she was aiming to. As her hardlight stretches out of her gem, the vague soup of sensory information that comes with being half-formed tells her that someone was running down a pair of stairs, but she’s focused more on the fact that she </span>
  <em>
    <span>knows</span>
  </em>
  <span> her new form, the new shape burrowing into her subconscious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She kept her head and face the same, though she made her mouth a bit more detailed. Instead of her dark pink hair pulling up into a premade double ponytail shape, it falls to her upper back in loose, messy waves. She’d actually kept her tear tracks, but changed them to be thinner and taper to points, so they look more like artistic mascara.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thin shoulders and wider but still slim hips meet in an ever-so-slightly inhumanly narrow waist, delicate arms and legs sculpted to look just like a humans that lead to similarly detailed hands and feet. Her skin is now a pale cream color, similar to how Pink could fade her skin to look human, but just a few shades </span>
  <em>
    <span>too</span>
  </em>
  <span> white, like Spinel hadn’t been outside in years.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She now has a built-in esophagus, stomach, and bladder, leading down into a somewhat anatomically correct butt and crotch, accentuated by the thigh gap her slim figure gives her. She’d simplified them down though, she didn’t need to actually digest anything after all, so a whole bunch of extra tubing folded in on itself just seemed unnecessary. Not like she was going to be dealing with much solid food-if any food-anyways. She’d also given herself a small pair of breasts capped with light pink nipples, on the larger side of A cup, perky and popping out just above her gem, the crystal tip peaking between them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She’d gone for simplified accuracy for her form, and she’d say she’d done a pretty good job of it. It felt comfortable, at least. After another moment to get used to her form, landing lightly on her feet as her hardlight settles completely, she opens her eyes to look around. It seemed to be late afternoon, considering she could see the yellow-orange hues of sunset through the glass sliding door of Steven’s room, and after a moment of focus she noticed that Connie was rummaging through one of his dresser drawers, looking over her shoulder and smiling at Spinel with a faint blush on her cheeks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wakey-wakey Spinel! How do you feel?” She wanders closer to Connie slowly, getting used to the different distribution of pseudo-mass in her form as she speaks. “It’s definitely weird, but a good kinda weird. I like it! Not sure what most of these tubes an holes are for though, I was mostly just tryin to look accurate for the most part.” Spinel stretches out one of her arms, watching the curves and dips stretch out of proportion as it lengthens before winding it back in with a rubbery snap.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I can probably give you some basic anatomy lessons to learn what they’re all for if you need them! For now though, there’s a few things we should go over.” Connie nods her head to Steven’s bed, Spinel sitting down on the edge of the mattress as the woman finally gathers whatever it is that she’d been taking. Closing the drawer and spinning to face her, Spinel notices that Connie seems to be more...peppy? There’s a bounce to her step as she walks over, and she knows all about adding bounce to your step.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As Connie sits down next to her, she glances at the bundle of clothes she’s holding, only recognizing the shirt and shorts in the pile before her attention is drawn back to the woman as she speaks. “Okay, so when it comes to your form, you essentially look like a human girl, which is what you wanted. Very good job by the way, you look quite nice!” Spinel giggles a little at the praise, a much more apparent blush coming to her face. “P’shaw, it’s nothin special...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, it kind of is.” Even though her face is still open, Connie takes on a more firm, serious tone, one which has Spinel giving the brownette her full attention. “The thing is, you </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> look human, so you’re probably going to have to learn a lot of things that humans learn just by example through life. For example, you’re going to have to wear clothes pretty much all the time. Most humans find seeing other humans without clothes on to be very intimate, and something you should only do in very specific circumstances.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She holds the bundle of clothes out for Spinel, who takes it with dawning understanding. “I only had your sketches to go off of, but they should fit. The kind of triangular cloth, panties, go on under the shorts, and the bra goes around your breasts, underneath your shirt.” “Aah. Thanks, Connie!” She giggles at the thanks, making something warm and fuzzy go through her-her not gem? Huh. Well something warm and fuzzy goes through Spinel as she gets up, starting to put on the clothes with only a little guidance from Connie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was right too, the panties and bra fit pretty well. Well, Spinel’s assuming they do, she doesn’t really have a frame of reference, but they’re comfortable so that’s good enough for her. She has to pull the drawstring a lot for the shorts to hang on her hips, and the shirt is baggy enough that it hangs off of her shoulder, but they work well enough, and it takes only a minute to pull her hair up into her regular 'tails with her hairclips and to tie her handkerchief around her neck. Catching her reflection in the screen of the TV, she walks over to it, smiling brightly at how she looks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The brownette giggles at her preening, Spinel turning to her with a pout, getting Connie to cough a little and get back on track. “Alright, so something else to keep in mind is that we’re not exactly sure how this new form is going to affect you. There aren’t many gems that have consciously tried to replicate human organs and body parts for their reformation, but we’re assuming that it’ll be like how Gems can taste and hear and all that despite having only light for a body.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The pinkette nods along at Connie’s words, trying to think through what exactly that means. “So basically, I should get those anatomy lessons so I know what to expect?” Connie snorts at her deadpan, getting up and walking over to pull Spinel into a hug. “Only if you want me to know that much about how you did your form. I’m glad you felt open enough with both of us to trust us with your gem, by the way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Spinel would like to say that she was cognizant of everything Connie said, but the truth is that as soon as she’d hugged her, she’d been distracted by some things. For one, having her boobs pressed up against Connie’s toned abs sends sparks of heat straight to her gem, along with somewhere near the bottom of her torso. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The gem is suddenly a lot more aware of things like the slightly musky smell stuck to Connie, the heat she makes and how her own hardlight soaks it in, the way her voice sends a ring through her gem. So yeah, she could hopefully be forgiven for blushing heavily and kind of short-circuiting, freezing up for those few moments before the distant sound of a warp chime knock them both out of their thoughts.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, that’s probably Steven. Do you want to show him how you look?” When she looks up into Connie’s face, Spinel has a sudden realization of </span>
  <em>
    <span>oh, that’s what she meant by affecting me,</span>
  </em>
  <span> considering that the gem very much wants Connie to do many things to her with that mischievous expression on her face, including but not limited to making the gem kiss every inch of her body. Instead, she just gulps and gives her a thumbs up and wobbly smile. “S-sure! Sounds fun!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh stars she’s going to crack at this rate.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Tahdah! I figured a Steven/Connie scene before the trio officially gets together would be nice, and when better than the moment they have some alone time after needing to keep things low-key for a week? And yes, I did tease you all with Stevonnie, but worry not! We'll be seeing more of them with an actual visual description later on. </p><p>As for the scene itself, I was trying to use a decent amount of realism while still mixing in some of the crazy space magic inherent to the world. For example, Steven could lift a multi-ton super injector enough for it to visibly shift at his weakest. And that's when he was 16! With an adult body and full power, he's essentially superman, which implies the necessity of boundaries during sex for safety reasons if nothing else. Oh, and don't worry about them not using a condom. Priyanka 'gently encouraged' Connie to get an IUD literally the day after she turned 16, and they've only ever had sex with each other so no real risk of STD's.</p><p>Also, HS response is a phenomena in-universe, short for Humanoid Stimulus Response, and it's like Connie hinted at. When a Gem shifts a humanoid organ, they experience sensation and instinct with that body part as if they were organic. This is why Gems can see, hear, feel, and taste, and is also why they will flinch when punched in the face, even though realistically they shouldn't need to worry about being blinded.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Interlude I: Visiting an Old Friend</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello again! I didn't really have the time or motivation to try to work together the plot for a full on regular chapter this last day. I went out to help move a large branch, and ended up spending a good 2 and a half hours helping to trim down two big trees and moving the big branches off out of the way.<br/>Instead, I'm introducing the Interludes! they're shorter things, mostly for worldbuilding and building up what's been going on with other people for the past 5 years, bringing in some other perspectives, that kind of stuff.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Everyone knew that some strange stuff had happened throughout the history of mankind on Earth, there was simply far too much evidence pointing it out. Ancient ruins made of carved stone carbon dated to pre-agricultural revolution times, filled with odd technology of all kinds. Murals of human-like beings of all different shapes and sizes. What is obviously some kind of advanced tower on the moon, first sighted by medieval astronomers once telescopes became commonplace. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Floating mountains.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And then there are the rumors of magical beasts. Obviously some of them are made up by crazies, or are simply mythological stories embellished upon through the ages, but with the introduction of modern cameras and the internet, it quickly became evident that a lot of them were real. A variety of seemingly magical creatures, each one with their own collection of abilities, which explode into a cloud of light and smoke when hurt enough.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Evaline never really put much thought into those kinds of things though, she was always more of a rowdy, physical type. That’s a big part of why she went into the military in the first place, among other things. But, she was a good soldier, rising through the ranks quickly, and by her 6th year in the force she was sat down in a small, comfortable room that was suspiciously similar to a spruced up interrogation room by two people that looked like they were out of The Matrix.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Thankfully she wasn’t about to be told that the universe was a simulation, though it was on a similar level of world-shaking revelations. Her contributions and work ethic had been noticed, and was now being invited to join a special governmental branch for the US, on a similar level to the CIA or FBI. Designed specifically to deal with the aftermath of gem-related incidents (and wasn’t it weird, that all that magic bullshit was partly thanks to 4 magic stone women?), along with containment of gem ruins and the apprehension of low-threat corrupted gems.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Even with all that though, she’d never actually come into contact with a Gem, corrupted or not, in all her tenure as part of AEGIS. The closest she’d ever gotten was when she’d gone into an old crashed gem ship and accidentally activated what was left of the holographic screens, which the tech team had been ecstatic over. So, with the revelation of the Diamond Authority’s existence and the ongoing peace accords, she jumped on the chance to join a high-priority project that would include both human and gem militia working together.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The revelation that the Cluster Removal Project was a massive teleportation project to remove a massive geoweapon/gem abomination from the earth’s mantle so that it could form without destroying the planet had done...several things to Evaline. Mainly making her lose sleep for quite a while over the fact she could have died with the rest of the planet and not even known why. One hell of a motivator though.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Gems as a whole were an experience to interact with, really. There seemed to be some kind of pseudo-class system that’s half societal and half ingrained? Like, her Gem Liaison and co-commander for internal guard rotations, Cinnamon Agate, she was just all over the place. Mostly a palette of soft browns and dark reds, with an outfit that looks like a mix of full military regalia and a hippie from the 60’s, complete with cursed bell bottoms. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Despite that and her bubbly, matronly personality, the Carnelians, Ruby’s and Amethysts that work under her are as strict and well-organised as Evaline’s own troops. It’s honestly almost unsettling, but from what she can tell there isn’t anything sinister going on, the soldier gems just </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> want to make Cinnamon proud. That’s not even getting into the fusion thing she’d seen some of the gem soldiers do, sometimes to help the tech team with installing heavy duty equipment, sometimes just because they want to.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Basically, she’s seen some shit and she knows it, and there isn’t much that fazes her anymore. She’s about as used to crazy space magic as one </span>
  <em>
    <span>can</span>
  </em>
  <span> be, so early into human-gem relations, and she knows that they can be pretty fun to be around, like the time she introduced a Ruby to beer and sat back to watch the insanity. Despite all that, she is not ashamed to admit that meeting Pink Diamond was a rollercoaster of emotion.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Problem 1, She didn’t know that he was a Diamond. Problem 2, </span>
  <em>
    <span>She didn’t know that he was a Diamond.</span>
  </em>
  <span> When she met him, he’d simply been sitting in the waiting area, assumedly waiting for clearance to the tech team’s building or something similar. Cinnamon Agate was supposed to meet her in a few minutes, so she sat down in a nearby seat, only vaguely familiar with his face. Maybe an engineer? He’s got the arms for it, that’s for sure.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey there, I don’t think I’ve seen you much here before. You a new engineer or something?” He’d looked up in surprise, giving her a sheepish grin and chuckle. “Ah, no, not exactly. I guess you could say I’m visiting a friend, just have to wait for an escort.” She’d raised a brow at that, since she hadn’t been told about any VIP’s that would need an escort. Then again, she’s only one of a few commanding officers on site, and it’s not like they’d completely streamlined order dissemination between humans and gems.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>After a moment she’d mentally shrugged it off, starting up some casual conversation to pass the time. Turns out he had </span>
  <em>
    <span>two</span>
  </em>
  <span> girlfriends, and not in the sleazy way. Good for him. He was certainly a positive guy, but he seemed kind of melancholy, like there was something heavy on his mind. Still, they were able to joke around, and she only notices Cinnamon walking up to them as she’s clapping the guy on the shoulder, cackling at a corny joke.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“M-</span>
  <em>
    <span>my Diamond!</span>
  </em>
  <span>” The commanding gem’s voice actually cracks mid-exclamation, something Evaline had never heard before, making her jerk and look around frantically. Off to the side, she finds Cinnamon in full salute, facing...</span>
  <em>
    <span>oh shit that’s why he looked familiar. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She’d frozen up, looking back and forth between one of her new friends and the </span>
  <em>
    <span>literal space emperor she’d been treating like just one of the guys.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Thankfully he just gave Cinnamon Agate a cheeky smile, like he’d expected to be found like that.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, Cinnamon Agate, right? How’s the troops on the gem side?” When he stands up, she’s just able to make out the outline of a gemstone through his shirt, which pretty much proves it. “Oh, quite well my Diamond, they’ve been doing fusion training in their free time to help out with construction, and we actually had a new combination pop up!” “Sounds interesting! Shall we talk about it on the way over?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, of course! Just let me talk to my co-coordinator here and I’ll catch up with you in just a moment.” The gem gestures for him to walk along the hall to the central emergence opening, though the hybrid turns and pins Evalin with an easy smile, despite the fact she kind of just wants to curl up and hyperventilate. “Oh, I didn’t know you were a commander here. Keep it up, soldier!” With a casual salute-the american kind, not the gem one-which she returns on instinct, before turning around to walk down the hall.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>After a moment of waving to the equivalent of her president cheerfully for a few seconds, Cinnamon turns to her with a panicked look on her face, actually sweating a little. How’d she manage that? Maybe not the most prevalent line of thought, but she’s kind of panicking right now so she’d say it's excusable. “What the shale is going on?! Why were you smacking earth’s Diamond?” Despite the agate’s attempt to whisper, her high emotions make it sound more like a hiss.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I-I didn’t know, I thought he was just some average joe! And I wasn’t smacking him, a clap on the shoulder is a casual friendly kind of thing.” Cinnamon groans into her hands, rubbing at her face before composing herself, back into her pleasantly friendly look. “Look, we can talk later, I need to make sure he isn’t angry or something.” Turning on her heel, the gem speed-walks down the hall to catch up to the hybrid gem, speaking pleasantly as if she wasn’t freaking out seconds before. Evaline herself decides to just. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Not</span>
  </em>
  <span>, for a few minutes, to calm down from all that. And hope she hadn’t just gotten herself fired or something. She’d heard that the Diamonds could be a bit...archaic.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Steven’s glad to have gotten some brevity, it’s always amusing to see people overreact to who he is. Despite having been on TV plenty, it’s usually either next to the Diamonds or while shaking hands with some ambassador or country leader, so even with his unique circumstances not a lot of people recognize him on meeting with him. For now though, he has someone he needs to speak to.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The partial emergence hole the cluster used to fight the Arm Ships had been completely transformed. With gem help, the hole had been stabilized, giving a decent amount of access to their chamber, but it was still essentially a massive tunnel down to the mantle of the planet. Hot, humid air wafts up from the cavernous hole, still radiating heat even after years just from proximity of the now solid rock walls to the semi-solid stone far below.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>There’s a cleared area of a good few dozen feet around the hole, the rim covered in a mix of tungsten alloy and pseudo-crystalline metal, a hardlight projector keeping rain out of the pit. Gem and human technical crew move about the entrance like a swarm of ants, none batting an eye at him as they construct multiple pipes that will eventually pump the mint green warp pad repair gel down to the cluster once they’re finished.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He walks right up to the edge, staring down into the darkness, only the faintest pinpoint of glimmering pale pink light to show that it has a bottom at all. After a moment he sits down on the edge, legs swinging out into the heated air, and takes a long breath in and out. With a few minutes of meditation, Steven projects himself down into the tunnel, eventually entering the massive amalgam with not even a ripple in the cluster’s bubble.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>For a moment, there is only darkness and silence, the barest background awareness of heat and pressure from the outside. As he watches on though, sparkles of light like twinkling stars fill the space in front of him, web-like strings of stardust flowing from one glowing gem shard to the next, ephemeral bonds like the neurons in a brain connecting them together. Slowly, they start to speak, whispers in secret mixed with yells of excitement and the murmurs of a crowd reacting to important news, the collective hive-thought washing over him like a wave.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>“STE...VEN…!”</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Bracing against the palpable thought hitting his projection, he laughs a little, absorbing some of the exuberance and anticipation by proximity as much as anything else. “Hey, sounds like you’re in a good mood! I know you were figuring something out last time I came by, did you figure out what it was?” The mental aura shifts slightly, pools of pride and humility curling together with joy and satisfaction, charging the mind space with anticipation he can’t help but reciprocate.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>“FOUND...NAME...”</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Steven can’t help but gasp, half out of incredulousness and half out of joy. He hadn’t ever really thought about it, the gem mutants didn’t really have the mental faculties to do something like find their name. Heck, he wasn’t sure it was something they could do </span>
  <em>
    <span>period</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Considering the Cluster is cognizant (in a way at least), it probably shouldn’t be too surprising. They all just had to find it together. “That’s amazing! Could you tell me what it is?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>There’s another pause as they process his question, the collective thought power shifting around into a menagerie of mischievous plotting and giggling pranks, before a wall of pure mental force starts pushing him back out of the cluster’s mindspace. He barely gets a glance at their bubble letting out a soft </span>
  <em>
    <span>plop</span>
  </em>
  <span> before he finds himself back on the tunnel rim with a gasp.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Blinking in surprise, he scrambles to his feet, the ground already shivering slightly as the light from the bottom of the tunnel quickly gets brighter. The tech crew obviously start to panic, sensory equipment going off the charts as people scream and run around like headless chickens. Jumping back a dozen feet, he forms a shield in front of himself and smashes his fist against it as an improvised gong, getting everyone’s attention.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t panic! They’re doing a partial emergence, we don’t have to worry about-” before he can finish speaking, the ground graduates from minor shivering to full-on shaking, and the Cluster floods up into the air. Phantom hardlight pushes up against the projected roof, nearly busting the machine immediately from the pressure before the light splits and flows past it, rushing into the air like something between the branches of a tree and the splitting streams of a river.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Half-formed faces and limbs sprout out from the lightstreams before diving back into the collective direction, the different branches of hardlight braiding back together several stories up. After several long moments, their form solidifies into pastel red skin and pink tendon, only half covering blue-purple strands of muscle.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rather than the singular hand and arm they’d formed before, each tendril seems made from multi-jointed arms, acting like a neck. At the top, a vaguely head-like shape is surrounded by a mane of lime green and amber orange hair, hanging around the head in long strands, flexing and twitching with half-formed thoughts. The only feature on its face is a massive, unblinking eye taking up most of the center of its head, iris a kaleidoscope of shifting colors.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They seem to collect themselves for a moment, eye roaming around the now silent area around their emergence hole, eventually locking onto Steven. They fold the arm-like segments of their many necks to ‘lean’ towards him, partly balancing their weight with hair tendrils as they eye the Diamond from only a few feet away. Steven, for his part, simply crosses his arms and raises a brow at them, looking unimpressed. “Did you really need to freak everyone out by popping yourself?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He can’t tell their exact thoughts outside of his astral projection ability, but with the way their eye splits across the middle after a minute, opening into a nightmarish maw filled with a mix of blocky, flat molars and sharp, pointy fangs that mold into a cheeky grin, he has a pretty good idea they must think that they’re hilarious. He just snorts and shakes his head, rolling his hand to them in a ‘go on, get it over with’ at them. “Oh alright then, let everyone hear it. I’m excited too!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A rumble of happiness shakes the air around them as the Cluster straightens back up to their full height, speaking to the real world for the first time. Despite the distance, a lot of people from Little Homeworld and Beach City would later agree that they were able to hear the words, even over such a distance.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>“WE...ARE...INTER...GROWTH...GEODE!”</em>
  </b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>With those literally earth-shaking words, Intergrowth Geode preens for a long moment, eye-mouth grinning like an eldritch sunshine child, before glowing and falling apart. Their form falls apart in long slivers, winding over the nearby tents, buildings, and people, leaving sparkles of light in every color of the rainbow. The hardlight strands twirl and swirl around each other, pulling back into their tunnel like water down a drain, and after another minute a faint, low-toned ‘bwoosh’ of a forming bubble can be heard.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Steven chuckles, rubbing at his ringing ear with a beaming smile on his face. The Clu-well, Intergrowth now, they’d made serious progress on collecting their thoughts into a singular voice, even if it took them a while to process things still. They still looked like some kind of abyssal creature from a nightmare realm, but that was kind of just how their form worked. He could appreciate the creativity, at least.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But, as he listens to soldiers rushing into the partial emergence zone to secure the area, along with several techie’s trying and failing not to hyperventilate, he sighs in exasperation. As amazing as that was, he couldn’t help but feel like Intergrowth had done it as much to mess with him as to let people know their name. He had some cleaning up to do...</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>There you go! What did you think? I personally think that the Cluster deserves some actual resolution, rather than just being left in the mantle for the rest of time, and I don't think that the american military would be fine with having an earth-destroying geoweapon stuck right underneath them. So, this is about how I figure things would happen. Let me know if you have any other suggestions or ideas, either for more Interludes or for the main storyline ^w^</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Fusion Fight!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello everyone! Thanks for stopping by for the next chapter, it took longer but also ended up being the longest one yet. I decided to have some sparring and worldbuilding (because you can never have enough worldbuilding), so here's to hoping that I didn't make it too extra. Let me know if you enjoy it!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Most days, Spinel ends up either joining Connie on her way to work and hanging out with her there, or sometimes joining Steven on extra-planetary meetings to other colonies on the rare occasion he does so. Apparently his meetings with other humans can be ‘like trying to wrangle sharks while covered in BBQ sauce’ according to Connie, though he’d always get all huffy when she’d say something like that. She didn’t really get the reference, but it’s definitely a joke of some kind, so she’s only mildly worried.</p><p> </p><p>Right now, though, watching the two of them move around the beach house with a kind of robotic efficiency as they pack up a big duffel bag, tossing shoes to each other, going in to the bathroom in pajamas and coming out wearing clothes she’s never seen before, she gets the idea that something different may be going on today. She’d gone with jean shorts with rainbow suspenders and a cropped short sleeve black shirt, a white skull with heart-shaped eye holes on the front (along with her usual add-ons), but they both looked more like they were expecting to be doing a lot of moving around for some reason.</p><p> </p><p>Connie has on lace-up flats, an odd set of dark blue, free flowing pants, held up by a drawstring at the waist and going down to halfway down her calves, elastic at the ends pulling the hems snug against her skin, and a long sleeved but similarly baggy black shirt and sports bra keeping her modest, but without being stifling. Steven is wearing similarly practical, baggy clothes, but more casual, wearing ‘basketball’ shorts and a snug pink shirt with the words 'Professional Beach Hunk’ across the front, along with sneakers.</p><p> </p><p>They both seem to be used to this though, bantering with each other as she watches from the couch, eventually catching their attention by intentionally making a loud sound with her empty cup and straw. They stop, looking at her with seeming surprise, which gives her the perfect chance to get a word in. “So, what exactly’s goin on? This doesn’t seem like a regular work thing.” They both blink in confusion, before coming to their senses, Connie palming her face as Steven chuckles.</p><p> </p><p>“Eheh, yeah, forgot you wouldn’t know about training day.” At her look of confusion Connie pats Steven on the arm, prompting him to continue packing while she explains to Spinel. “Well, even though there aren’t many reasons to fight anyone anymore, a lot of gems still <em> like </em> fighting, at least in a sparring environment. To keep more rowdy gems from getting restless, we had the Sky Arena repaired and expanded into a set of tournament-slash-training arenas, both for warrior gems to get their energy out, and for non-fighter type gems to learn how to do things like summon their weapons.”</p><p> </p><p>“Aah, yeah, I can see that. I’ve seen some quartzes get kind of twitchy after being on guard duty a bit too long.” Spinel stands up to follow Connie over to the kitchenette, arms stretching out to take over moving soda cans and ice into a cooling box for her, getting a smile and a pat on the head in return. “Assuming this ‘trainin day’ means we’re goin there, is there any reason why? Seems like you’ve done this before.”</p><p> </p><p>Steven takes over the explanation, hauling the duffel bag onto his shoulder by the strap as Connie goes into the bathroom, grabbing some small towels. “Well, part of it is just to stay fit. Human bodies are only as strong as they need to be, so we need to train not only to get experience like a gem, but also to build up our bodies. We go to the Sky Arena bi-weekly both to get a good workout in, and also to help deal with problem gems.”</p><p> </p><p>“Problem gems? You mean like, traitors or something?” He waves off her alarm, ruffling her hair and making her new form do odd little things, putting a blush on her face. “Nah, nothing that extreme. Some gems have a bit of an ego problem, since humans are frailer overall compared to gems, along with any other issues they may have. When problems like that come up, the usual trainers will have us fight them to knock down their ego a little.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, good, I was worried for a second there...” Her sigh of relief quickly turns into a squeak of surprise when she finds a pair of slim, wiry arms around her shoulders, Connie giving her a teasing hug. “Aww, you really do care!” “O-of course I care! You’re my best friends...” She’d ducked her head and mumbled out her words, completely missing the way Connie looked up at Steven, mouthing ‘Pure Baby’ to him with only an eye roll in return. Shaking her head, Spinel looks back up at them, leaning back into the brunette's hug subconsciously as she speaks. “So, uh, when are we leaving?”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, that should be everything we might need right?” Connie nods at the hybrid, hauling the mini-cooler up onto her cocked hip. “Right, we can go now then!” With that, looking more like they’re going to the beach than to an ancient refurbished dueling platform in the sky, the trio step onto the warp pad and chime away.</p><p>____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</p><p> </p><p>When they all fade back into real-space, it’s to a cacophony of noise resounding off of the stonework of the Sky Arena, fading into the open air behind them. Already the differences can be seen, stone that was once old and fractured either repaired or replaced, pretty much squeaky clean as the trio walk up the steps. In some ways, the arena was actually easier to refurbish, since it was made before the False Shattering, some quick crack sealing and building off of the leftover frame and old blueprints was a lot easier than tearing out Era 2 murals out from all over the majority of buildings.</p><p> </p><p>Of course, the biggest change was to the arena itself, and Steven grins when he hears Spinel gasp dramatically once they walk out from the vomitorium, sheer scale making up for the fact that the gem hadn’t seen it before now. What used to be only a floating chunk of architecture, the entire outer edge incomplete, is now a massive colosseum-like structure, rows and rows of seating making up the walls of the ovular open floor, around the size of a football field.</p><p> </p><p>Eight floating, angular columns covered in gem runes hover along the longer sides, four to each side, seeming to act as anchors for hardlight shield generators, separating the arena into different segments. At least a hundred gems fill the seating, almost double that number in various groups in the walled off segments, meditating, fighting, and doing various types of training, little screens of hardlight fliting around the whole coliseum like flocks of sparrows.</p><p> </p><p>After giving Spinel a moment to take it all in, he puts an arm each around her and Connie’s shoulders, pulling them into a quick hug and starting to move them all forward. “Come on now, no need to gawk from up here. We can gawk from up close!” He gets two snorts and a playful elbow to the side for his bad joke, and with only a little more teasing they make it to the arena floor in no time. </p><p> </p><p>Of course, before they can walk more than a few feet away from the entrance hall, a lilac hardlight screen breaks off from one of the bird-like flocks flicking through the air, zipping down at high speeds before stopping suddenly right in Spinel’s face, getting one of those adorable squeaky sounds of surprise out of her.</p><p> </p><p>[Good morning, new initiate! As you have not been to the Era 3 Sky Coliseum before, you are required to-]</p><p> </p><p>The screen stutters for a moment, text replaced with a buffering circle as it looks from Spinel to Steven and Connie for a few moments, eventually angling itself back to the pinkette.</p><p> </p><p>[Please Hold]</p><p> </p><p>He does his best to hold back a laugh as the screen goes back to the buffer circle, Spinel turning back to him and Connie with just pure confusion on her face, gesturing between herself and the screen with slightly constricted sounds. Connie herself just rolls her eyes, patting the pinkette on the shoulder while he ‘coughs’. “Don’t worry, that’s just Violet Meionite. She’s the main coordinator for the Sky Arena. Well, Colosseum, now.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, she’s really taken to the whole ‘gamification’ idea. Weee probably shouldn’t let Peri give her any more ideas.” Steven rubs at the back of his neck with a sigh. Peridot had been a big help in getting the more data-oriented gems and fusions used to things like human media, but Violet Meionite is <em> scary </em> with her screens. Speaking of which...</p><p> </p><p>A low hum in the air quickly grows louder, and Steven looks up, waving at the incoming fusion. On a large, circular hardlight platform, what almost looks like an old-timey victorian teacher smoothly descends down in front of the trio. A good three feet taller than Steven, she has a slim build, midnight purple ankle-length skirt, crystalline short heeled shoes, and a ruffled, long sleeved lavender blouse. </p><p> </p><p>Delicate facial features and striated purple hair pulled up into a bun give her a very professional look, only her gems and arms deviating from the look. Two sets sprout from her shoulders, gesturing constantly to organize the many screens moving around the arena, with the last set growing from just above her hips, fingers blurring as she types out text on a flat hardlight keyboard. Set in her stomach is a Pearl, at the base of her neck a Zircon, and in the place of what would be a fifth eye is instead a Sapphires gemstone, her four normal eyes branching out diagonally from the central, replaced orb and currently looking at them with a dry stare.</p><p> </p><p>“My Diamond, Ms. Maheswaran. I sincerely hope that our new trainee here won’t be as...<em> obstreperous </em> as some of your other friends.” Connie snorts at the apparent jab, but he glides past it and gets straight to the point, like she likes it. “Hey, Mei! Naw, Spinel here has been really good while she’s been staying around.” the gem in question blushes at the praise, but straightens her back, stretching out her arm so that Meionite can shake it easily. “Pleased to meet’cha, Meionite!”</p><p> </p><p>The fusion tilts her head, seemingly confused at Spinel’s appearance. Understandable, she really did do a good job making herself look human, and her gem is hidden by her shirt. But after a moment the purple gem seems to remember herself, one of her upper arms giving Spinel a polite handshake before going right back to gesturing. “A Spinel? I don’t think we’ve had one come to the Coliseum yet, I’ll have to recalibrate the rankings...anywho, will you be joining the introductory section, or are you only here as a spectator?”</p><p> </p><p>“Mmm...” Spinel crosses her arms, chin perched in one hand-and would you look at that, her elbow bends where it’s supposed to now! She must be practicing-“I think I’d rather watch for now. I don’t want to ruin my clothes.” “Why would you need to worry-oh, yes, actual appearance modifiers. Interesting choice. Well!” Meionite pokes the lilac screen, which twitches and morphs into a blank, 2D arrow, bobbing slightly in the air and pointing off to the side of the pinkette. “Follow that screen and it will take you to the advanced fighter spectator stands, take any free seat you want. My Diamond, Ms. Maheswaran, if you’ll follow me?”</p><p> </p><p>Before following the arrow, Spinel pauses to give both Connie and himself a hug, stretching out a little to pull them both in. The both laugh a little at the affection, Connie allowing the stretchy gem to take the cooler with her once they separate, waving to the duo as she runs off. “I’ll watch you two fight, love you!” She stumbles and starts running faster, unnoticed as Steven suddenly has to fight the urge to squee in excitement, vaguely aware of the fact that Connie is in about the same position as him, leaning up against his side for support.</p><p> </p><p>“Really, you’d think an empath would have better control over their emotions...” Violet Meionite’s muttered self-comment breaks him out of his short-circuiting, coughing awkwardly to restart the conversation. “Uh, right, anyways! What do we have to deal with today?” “Oh, quite the doozy of a duo, though I do believe you two will be the perfect foil for them. A Ruby and a Lazuli by the nicknames Back-Hand and Mole have started fusing, a relatively rare combination to be sure. The problem is that they seem to think that having a higher power fusion somehow makes them invincible...”</p><p> </p><p>As much as Steven wants to give Mei his full attention, he’s still reeling a little from Spinel’s seemingly unintended admission. At the feel of fingers intertwining with his own, he looks over to see Connie giving him a predatory grin, one he quickly realizes is mirrored on his own face. With someone to show off to in the crowd, and a gem duo with an ego to knock down, it seems that they were going to go full-out this time around.</p><p>____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</p><p> </p><p><em> Oh stars why did she say something like that. </em> Ok, no, she knows why she said it. Steven and Connie are just both so great in their own ways, and they make her feel good, and there’s this weird flip-floppy feeling in her belly when they smile at her that she really likes, and-just, she knows why. But you can’t just say something like that, right?!</p><p> </p><p>After silently freaking out for a solid minute, Spinel finally takes in a deep breath, torso ballooning cartoonishly, before letting out in one big gust, along with most of her anxiety over it. It isn’t really a <em> bad </em> thing that she said it, she knows that at worst they’ll just think she meant it in a friendly way, rather than her <em> actually </em> wanting to be girlfriends with them. And in that case she could just, build up to a real confession! She’s fine, completely fine. She needs a drink.</p><p> </p><p>After finding a good seat on the front row of the advanced fighter spectator section, she puts down the cooler in front of her as she sits down, popping the lid up to grab a Prof. Mint. She’d never had actual mint before, but if it’s anything like the soda then she’d probably like it. Looking up at the current spars going on as she cracks the soda open, she doesn’t see anything too interesting, it’s pretty clear that things are mostly lighthearted here. No deathmatches or anything like that, at least.</p><p> </p><p>Taking a sip of the soda, she takes a moment to focus on her form as the fizzy drink slides through her. She liked her form, she really did. There were things she had to get used to, like the fact that she’s supposed to move her arms and legs in specific ways to look human, or else there’s an ‘uncanny valley’ thing that can wig people who don’t know her out. She should know, she let her arm flop to the floor bonelessly for dramatic effect in public once and suddenly like, 5 humans were panicking over her.</p><p> </p><p>But, there were also some things that took a lot more getting used to. Apparently she was experiencing something called ‘sexual attraction’, which is an organic thing related to the crotch goblin now residing between her legs. They aren’t <em> bad </em> feelings, in fact they feel quite nice, but she was having enough problems acting normal around Steven and Connie when all she was feeling was normal emotional attraction, like a regular gem. Thankfully she’d been getting a better handle on it, and she could actually function around her two humans without breaking down.</p><p> </p><p>Noticing that the handful of ‘advanced fights’ were being pulled off the arena floor without new ones being beckoned on, she refocuses on what’s going on in front of her. A dozen of Meionite’s screens form up next to each other above the stands, merging into one giant billboard so that everyone can see the text which forms along it.</p><p> </p><p>[Special Round: Fusion-Permitted Duos Match]</p><p>[Players: Back Hand &amp; Mole VS Steven &amp; Connie]</p><p> </p><p>A Ruby and Lapis Lazuli make their way onto the arena floor, a mix of both cheers and boos roaring out from the crowd around Spinel. Seems these two were as infamous as they were well liked. The ruby looked pretty standard looking, gem on the back of their left hand and cleated boots the only things that really stand out. The Lazuli is a bit more visually interesting, though, at the very least. </p><p> </p><p>With their gem embedded in the dip of the clavicle at the base of their throat, it’s clear to see that their gem has a large pyrite inclusion on the right side, shown in the way their form has a thick splattering of gold-colored, metallic freckles, twisting from their right wrist all the way up their arm and shoulder, ending in a ‘vein’ of specks reaching up her neck and along their cheek. </p><p> </p><p>Her conspicuously sleeveless bodysuit replacing the traditional Lazuli dress and a basic hair braid that leads down to the small of her back set her apart from most others of her gem type just as much as the obvious off-colouring, the kind that would have gotten a gem shattered in Era 2. They seem to soak up the love and hate both, Back Hand heckling the crowd for a few moments before they knock their forearms together, obviously quite familiar with each other.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, the crowd bursts into full cheers, nearly sending Spinel’s ears ringing, prompting her to look over and see her favorite human and hybrid. They were still in the clothes they’d warped here in, but there were a few add ons now. For one, Connie had a short sword in a scabbard at her hip, a dark brown scabbard with pink highlights complementing the visible handle and guard. She has long lengths of cotton bandaging wrapped all the way up and down her forearms, leaving only her fingertips uncovered. Steven had equipped an odd set of hand guards, looking like a mix between fingerless gloves and padded boxing gloves, made out of pink cloth and magenta metal.</p><p> </p><p>The two teams seem to banter for a few moments, though Spinel has no idea what they’re saying considering how the gems around her are still roaring and stamping their feet and using a bunch of other ways to show their excitement. Something she does notice though is that Steven seems to stiffen for a moment, and although she can’t see his face from this angle the other team of gems seem to sweat and realize that they are, in fact, about to face a Diamond in a fight. It’s impressive though, they’d somehow managed to actually get the huggable hybrid angry, which is quite a feat.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, you mind if I snatch one of those?” Jerking a little, Spinel looks to the side, only now noticing the short Crystal Gem Amethyst had sat down next to her. How’d she get there? “Er, yeah, sure.” Feeling a bit awkward, she stretches out her arm to grab another soda without moving from her spot, getting a surprised look from the purplette as she passes her the can. “Wait, Spinel?! Well damn, guess you got a glow-up. Did you get in a fight or something?” Rather than opening the can the normal way, Amethyst bites into the side of the aluminum, tipping her head back and chugging like a pro.</p><p> </p><p>“Nope, Steven helped poof me. I kinda wanted a change, so I decided to go human-y for a while.” She leans forward, watching the duos as they make their ways to opposite sides of the arena section. Elbows on knees and her chin in one hand, Spinel splits her attention between the purple gem and the fight, noticing two more screens float down to the Ruby and Lazuli, turning into long, curved rectangles near their heads with some kind of bar in the middle. Some kind of metric? No idea what for, or why Steven and Connie don’t get one.</p><p> </p><p>“You three have been getting pretty close, huh? What, you into the kind of person that could pound you into the dirt?” Spinel simply sighs as she looks over her humans, not having the nervous energy to hold in her thoughts. “Oh stars, I <em> wish </em> they would <em> . </em>” Amethyst, not having expected that response, chokes mid-bite into the empty can she was chewing on, little splinters of metal spilling out of her mouth as she cackles. </p><p> </p><p>“Oho, man, that was great! Good on you, stretch! But eh, just so you know, you hurt either of them and I won’t hesitate to bubble you and leave your gem somewhere no one can find you.” “Trust me, I’m not gonna make that mistake again.” With intentions stated and something friendship-adjacent secured, they focus back on the arena, Spinel occasionally tossing the other gem soda cans to eat.</p><p> </p><p>The billboard-like screen forms an animation, a ring around a 3 shrinking down into it before it changes to a 2, then a 1, and the fight officially begins. Unlike what she would have expected, no one goes right into fighting, both groups instead stalking around each other, waiting for someone to make the first move while they ready themselves. </p><p> </p><p>Connie draws her shortsword, crouching low to the ground, prowling slightly in front of Steven. The hybrid settles into a completely different stance, keeping tall but with his head ducked forward, arms in front of his face. Unfortunately familiar bubble-gloves form around his hands, before seeming to warp and almost get absorbed into the ones already around his hands, becoming skin-tight and growing little spiked knuckles.</p><p> </p><p>In return, Back Hand steps ahead of Mole, summoning a crimson bolas and slowly twirling it in their hand. The Lazuli keeps her left side turned towards her opponents, gem glowing as she summons her wings. Her right wing, as would be expected, is small and simplistic, almost looking like a chibi angel wing made of water as it flaps just above her shoulder. Her left wing though, flows out into a mass of liquid bigger than herself, put together well enough that individual feathers of water shift as it moves partly in front of her ally, acting as half-cover. An interesting idea, the inclusion would have made her right wing weak anyways, so focusing completely on developing her left wing makes a decent amount of sense.</p><p> </p><p>For a moment, the area goes still, only the distant sounds of other coliseum sections filling the air as the crowd waits with bated breath. On some unseen mark, Connie and Back Hand sprint towards each other, the human keeping up well against the Ruby’s inherent speed. Mole’s wing follows behind the fiery gem, flowing through the air like a whip to try and strike the brunette before being blocked by a growing wall of diamond shaped light panels.</p><p> </p><p>The air around the two closer fighters quickly becomes a battleground of its own, Mole’s wing water and Steven’s shield panels both clashing as the two area controllers battle for supremacy. Through the shards of hardlight and water, a more traditional but no less enthralling battle goes on. Back Hand throws her bolas to try and get a quick advantage, but Connie shows off her flexibility, flipping over the weapon before it can tangle up her legs.</p><p> </p><p>To the red gem’s credit, she immediately dissolves the weapon rather than try to go after it, reforming it and holding it taught between her hands to catch Connie’s downward slash on the rope. Folding the tangling rope over the blade of the sword, Back Hand locks the weapon down and goes for a leaping kick up at Connie’s stomach, the intent of the cleat-like spikes on her boots now clear. Rather than let go of the sword, she leans back into a controlled fall, swinging the blade up to keep the visibly glowing foot from connecting. </p><p> </p><p>Completing the swing to bring it down above her head, Back Hand lets go of her weapon, rolling back up into a fighting stance. Connie uses a kip-up to get back to her feet before the Ruby can take advantage of her grounded position, turning to face the gem once more, leaving them in reversed positions for a moment before they start clashing once more. For Spinel, it’s a breathtaking fight, not just the energy and speed but also the technique being put into the combat that gets her absorbed into it. </p><p> </p><p>She hadn’t really done much in the way of fighting, other than when she’d first come to Earth, and it had been more anger, a patently ridiculous weapon, and liberal use of her stretchiness that had let her keep up with the Crystal Gems. Even then, she could see the way both duo’s were working together, Mole and Steven doing their best to act as support for their frontline friends. It’s a case of deadlock, and in a fight it was only a matter of time before that changes.</p><p> </p><p>Back Hand’s metric bar had slowly been chipping away with each punch or kick she tanked, Spinel correctly assuming that it was some way of measuring how stable a gem’s form was. Connie finally managed to get a direct hit on the Ruby, sword tip scraping against her chest, outfit and skin glitching slightly as the gem holds her form, a good chunk of the bar above Back Hand’s energy bar disappearing.</p><p> </p><p>Mole calls out to her partner, getting a grin from the Ruby as she draws her water back, Steven slowly getting closer now that he doesn’t have to focus on deflecting. He and Connie both are sweating from the physical and magical exertion, respectively, but don’t have much time to rest as the sweat is swiped from their skin. Steven immediately has to go back to shielding, using tiny diamond panels to block the needles of solid yet not frozen water, reflecting back the force of the needles to turn the shards to mist.</p><p> </p><p>As he’s taking care of that, Connie narrows her eyes at the gem duo as she moves in front of her partner. Mole’s water has precipitated any dust and smoke that might have gotten caught up in it, the crystal clear liquid shimmering with heat waves and little trails of steam as Back Hand stands in the middle of it, standing suspiciously still but with an obvious grin on her face. With a flick of her wrist, the Lazuli moves the oddly sluggish water off her ally, twisting it into a drill shape and moving it towards the two humans.</p><p> </p><p>Spinel isn’t sure what the plan is, the attack is way too big and slow moving to try to surprise them, and Mole isn’t even trying to spin the drill head much, so she likely isn’t planning to try and dig through Steven’s shields. Of course there’s not much to do other than block it, since if it gets too close she could split it up and attack them from up close with it, so he throws up a large, circular rose shield, right in front of Connie. That’s when things get a bit crazy.</p><p> </p><p>Just before contact, Mole slams the drill into the shield at full speed, and out of nowhere the entire body of liquid explodes into a furious gout of steam, clouding the entire half of the arena. Spinel actually gasps in worry, unsure what would happen. For a long moment everyone watches, before the mist starts to recollect into drops of rain, drawn back to Mole as it forms. In the fading mist, two flashes of light show that the human duo are still alive, matched wincing faces showing that Steven had needed to heal them both. Before Spinel could start planning a double shattering though, her humans apparently decide to show off as well.</p><p> </p><p>Now next to each other, they have a short conversation before getting to work. Connie sprints forward, but only makes it a few feet before jumping up into the air, using a rose shield to jump up further and flip through the air back towards Steven. The hybrid in question faces the now cautious gem duo, twisting his body with just one foot on the ground, like he’s about to throw a fastball. Connie lands in his throwing hand, using his palm as a foothold and compressing down like a coiled spring, sword held up in line with her stare. Steven’s hand glides across her blade for a brief moment, coating it in hardlight, before his whole body tenses up.</p><p> </p><p>The remaining clouds of mist <em> disappear, </em>water slicking the stone and hardlight of the contained area and soaking the crowd as a huge gust of wind sends Spinel’s hair pulling against her scalp, dragged by the moving air. Having flinched from the water and pressurized air, she could only look at the aftermath immediately after what happened. Steven had finished his throw, quickly getting his feet back under him. Behind Mole and Back Hand, Connie was nestled in a wall of diamond panels, stretched out around her like she’d just jumped onto a wall trampoline to absorb her inertia, dissolving back into light and allowing the human to fall back onto her feet, lithe and light as ever.</p><p> </p><p>For a moment, Spinel could have sworn that her humans had somehow missed, but after another moment she sees as the Lazuli starts to slide into two pieces at the waist, a shocked look on both her and Back Hand’s faces. With the sudden quiet, Spinel is able to hear the Ruby shout “No, Mole!” reaching for Mole with a surprisingly desperate look on her face. Just before the blue gem can fully destabilize, the ruby jumps up and hugs her, and with a flash of light someone new starts to form.</p><p> </p><p>Swelling up to about half a head taller than Steven, Spinel is almost afraid the destabilization of the Lazuli caused them to form wrong, only realizing that it’s fine when they finalize without any issues. The normal amount of legs, eyes, etc, but without any arms, Back Hand’s gem now situated in the socket of the fusion’s left shoulder. Stocky frame like the ruby but with slim proportions like the Lazuli, their hair is a blending of their components hair, looking almost like a scorpion’s tail sprouting out of the back of her head. </p><p> </p><p>She’s colored in a mix of blacks, browns, and sandy yellow’s, and in place of the pyrite inclusion Mole had, they instead have an inclusion of a silvery mineral, fragmented across their forms right side like a lichtenberg scar, glowing slightly with heat. After a moment, the fusion opens their eyes and seems to look over themselves, as if to make sure they’re really there, sighing in relief once they gather themselves. Back Hand and Mole’s energy meters combine next to their head, about 2/3rds full, and on the billboard the duo’s names change to ‘Fulgurite’. </p><p> </p><p>She glances between Steven and Connie, who both seem somewhat surprised at the fusion, before they start to run at the full human of the duo, both gems shining. Rather than water or a bolas though, something hot enough to make heat waves, clear and glowing orange heat oozes into the air around the fusion. The molten glass forms into two glass arms, one small and sharp held near their right side, the other massive and blocky, stretching out to try and smash Connie into the ground. Thankfully, a diamond panel forms next to her, allowing her to jump and roll out of the way. The two humans lock eyes and nod, Connie sprinting for him, making a curving arc around the fusion in between her and her friend.</p><p> </p><p>Fulgurite seems confident but also frustrated, finding her molten glass and solidified shards being blocked or redirected by more panels, soon enough shifting her attention to the Diamond and sending waves of glass at him. In response, Steven goes full juggernaut, charging straight for the fusion and smashing through glass walls, using a mix of rose shields, diamond panels, and even a bubble to get out of the encroaching barrage of superhot silicate.</p><p> </p><p>With her attacks doing little more than make the human duo sweat more, Fulgurite looks decidedly more nervous, taking a few steps back from the rapidly approaching hybrid, Connie cutting a closer angle to Steven now that the fusion is distracted. Before she can get more than a few feet back though, the diamond reaches her, winding back an arm before thrusting it towards her. Rather than a punch though, a rapidly expanding bubble shield forms, its leading edge smashing into the fusion, sending her flying through the air and smashing against the hardlight border, taking another chunk out of her energy. The glass worker shakes her head as she gets back up, too late to intervene as her opponents meet up, hugging each other to create a warm wave of fusion light.</p><p> </p><p>So far, this has been a captivating fight for Spinel, and out of the corner of her eye she can see that Amethyst seems to be actually paying attention as well. High energy, clever tactics, an emotional moment, it’s pretty obvious that there’s a reason this is considered the Advanced Fighting area. Really though, probably her most anticipated part of this fight had been to see what Steven and Connie’s fusion would look like. She still remembered Mr. Multiverse from when she’d been wiped, but she’d been a bit too emotional then to really pay attention. The light clears away and-</p><p> </p><p>Oh. <em> Oh my. </em></p><p> </p><p>Stevonnie, as the billboard tells her, is tall, the top of Spinel’s head would probably only just be at the same height as their gem. They have a barrel-like ribcage and hips like a walk-in closet that taper into a thinner but still prominent, toned waist, combined with long limbs that have sculpted, lithe muscle pressed tight against their smooth, light brown skin. Their hair is a poofy mess of messy dark brown curls, halfway between Connie’s wavy hair and Steven’s ringlets, held in a loose ponytail by a straining hairband at the base of their head, falling down to Stevonnie’s lower back. </p><p> </p><p>Connie’s sports bra and Steven’s shirt are combined into a dark pink compression shirt, clinging to them like a second skin, ‘Professional Amazon’ printed across their chest and cropped to stop just below Stevonnie’s ribs. Their boobs are slim and perky, made as much of pectoral muscle as fat, partly hidden by Connie’s training shirt, which hangs off their shoulders like a short cape. Their pants are still baggy, hanging low on their waist and going down to just below her knees, slide-on light shoes snug against their feet. Connie’s scabbard is strapped to the small of their back rather than at Stevonnie’s hip, the blade more like a long knife than a shortsword now, and their hands and forearms are wrapped in semi-metallic pink cloth magenta metal knuckles.</p><p> </p><p>Stevonnie flips some of their hair back behind them, blowing some stray strands that escaped their hairband out of their face. The intense stare in their eyes, the way sweat drips off of their muscles… “Hey, you good? You look like you need to pee.” Spinel jerks a little, tearing her eyes off of the new reason her belly feels like it’s doing a tap dance inside of her to see Amethyst giving her a concerned look. It takes a moment for the pinkette to realize she’d been rubbing her thighs together with a blush on her face, blushing even harder and waving away the purple gems worry with a frantic wave. “O-oh, no! I’m good, don’t worry about me!”</p><p> </p><p>Amethyst seems ready to argue, but before she can the battle resumes, taking back their attention. Fulgurite, wanting to take advantage of the disorientation that comes with realigning two perspectives into one, sends another wave of glass at the three quarters human. Unfortunately for her, Steven and Connie have been fusing on and off for almost a decade, which means that they barely pause when deciding what to do. To Spinel’s distress, they don’t dodge out of the way, only the sudden glow of pink right before impact keeping her from jumping out of her seat. </p><p> </p><p>Fulgurite smirks as the glass rapidly freezes solid, but blanches when the silicate shell almost immediately shatters open. Stepping out of the wreckage, Stevonnie shows off a new technique. Their body is covered head to toe in plates of diamond paneling, rippling with every move like sharp, hardened scales. The human fusion leans forward, sprinting towards Fulgurite at an unreasonable speed as more hardlight coats Connie’s sword, lengthening the edge out to turn it into something similar to a claymore.</p><p> </p><p>Obviously panicking, the gem fusion pushes all of her glass reserves into a thick wall of glass to try and stall Stevonnie. Not even changing pace, they bring back the hand not holding their sword, energy building in the knuckles before they snap their fist right into the barrier. Reverberating energy from the impact shakes through the glass, it’s brittle nature causing it to shatter into variously sized shards in only a moment. Pushing through without a second glance, their sword stabs forward, skewering the gem fusion and leaving her held a few inches in the air.</p><p> </p><p>The crowd roars as Fulgurite’s energy bar quickly tanks, staying stable just long enough for Stevonnie to vanish their helmet, telling the other fusion something too softly for the words to make it through the cheers. Finally, with a humbled look on her face, the fusion poofs, Spinel’s two humans mashed together snatching the gems from the air before evaporating the rest of their armor. They seem to look down at the two gems in their hand as they sheathe Connie’s blade, turning to the crowd with a wistful expression on their face. They look up and spot her, giving her a bright smile and <em> oh no what should she say to them should she say anything she can’t handle this- </em></p><p>____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</p><p> </p><p>Explaining what being a fusion is like is, quite obviously, hard to do. They <em> could </em> try to break down the technical research done on it in a very Connie way, but it would probably be simpler to use an analogy. Fusion is like… a music mashup, but <em> more. </em></p><p> </p><p>Steven is cheesy pop songs on the ukulele and gentle beach waves, warm snuggles by the fireplace in winter under the blanket and languid half-sleep while soaking in the sun. He is both sides of a coin, crystal and light paired with flesh and bone, a fusion of his own, but not quite. His presence in Stevonnie’s head is warm together breakfast and giggling positivity.</p><p> </p><p>Connie is a violin solo in a familiar bedroom and the clash of swords in training, the smell of old library books and Momswaran’s home cooking at the end of a tough school day. She is the story of growth, once frail and drifting through life, now tough as nails and the stubborn exclamation of “I’m here to stay!” When she pitches in on their ideas, she is the glare of old reading glasses and calm, gentle logic.</p><p> </p><p>And, in the middle, there is Stevonnie. They are a duet over snack food on a stone hand and the promise to take on everything together, the bittersweet taste of donuts at dusk and the revelation that they can drift race for them, not someone else. They are an experience, one of first fusion, first love, and so many other firsts along with them. When deciding what they’ll do, Stevonnie is that first dance on the beach and the confidence of two people who trust each other implicitly.</p><p> </p><p>That being said, one or both of their components can strongly affect Stevonnie’s emotions and opinions if their own emotions and opinions are particularly heavy about something. For example, when Mole had implied that Steven was handicapping himself by fighting with a human partner, that had put both of the gems onto his ‘I am not very happy with these people’ list, which had carried over when Stevonnie had skewered Fulgurite. </p><p> </p><p>Thankfully Connie’s bemused fondness over her fusion partner’s protectiveness had tempered Stevonnie’s need to call them out, turning their words into a humbling bit of advice, rather than an insult. They’d had experience with this over the years of Stevonnie’s existence, and they barely even noticed the swells of emotion, seamlessly integrating it into their own train of thought. They even caught Mole and Back Hand’s gems, out of respect more than anything since falling to the floor wouldn’t actually harm their gems.</p><p> </p><p>With all that in mind, when they pocket the gems and turns to the crowd, spotting a flustered-looking Spinel next to Amethyst at the front of the crowd, their mindspace <em> glows </em> with all kinds of positive emotions, including fondness, pride, and just a hint of hornyness on both of their components ends, to Steven’s slight embarrassment, the huggable lug. They can’t help the grin that grows on their face, walking up to the duo with a wave. “Hey, Amethyst! Haven’t seen you in a bit, good to see my favorite Quartz.”</p><p> </p><p>“Ayy, Treehouse, good to see ya! Thanks for the sodas, by the way.” Amethyst gives them a smirk and a double-finger gun, snickering a little at the way Spinel was looking up at Stevonnie like she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to be a tomato or not. Stevonnie blanks for a moment before pouting at her fun aunt, crouching down right in front of the cooler. “Aah, you better not have eaten them all again! Especially after that last fight, molten glass and steam make for a very sweaty fusion.”</p><p> </p><p>Before they can do more than reach for the cooler lid, Spinel squeaks and finally starts moving again, opening the container and grabbing one of the last cans, holding it out for them with a wobbly smile. “E-eh, here! I made sure to stop her at a dozen. I’m Spinel, by the way.” Stevonnie can’t help but giggle at the pinkette, gently taking the soda from her before shaking the gem’s hand, politely ignoring the way she stiffens at the touch. “Thank you! And it’s nice to finally meet you as myself, Sweetheart. You probably already saw, but I’m Stevonnie.”</p><p> </p><p>Ignoring her confused mutter of ‘Sweetheart…?’, Stevonnie cracks open the soda and takes a long drink to quench their thirst, watching as Spinel looks them over not very subtly from the corner of her eye, considering Amethyst has noticed and is currently trying not to cackle. They usually didn’t care much about people looking them over unless they make a big deal of it, a mix of confidence in the relationship they’re made of and the unashamedness that Steven has always had and that Connie nurtured over time. Those kinds of stares didn’t really do anything for Stevonnie, it was just a thing that happened, but Spinel being all nervous and adorably flustered makes them want to tease her.</p><p> </p><p>With that idea in mind, Stevonnie gives Amethyst a wink while the pinkette fiddles with the bands of her suspenders, receiving one in return as they stand up and stretch. They flip their hair back, using the still cold can to cool off their neck some, nodding over to where Steven and Connie had put down their duffel bag and giving the adorable gem a warm smile. “Hey, what do you say we go grab the rest of my stuff and head back? I’m up for hanging out a little before unfusing, if you want.”</p><p> </p><p>Stevonnie’s pretty sure they broke her, since she flusters a bit more before seeming to suddenly calm down. Spinel takes a deep breath before nodding, screwing up her courage as she stands up next to Stevonnie. “Yeah, that sounds good! Uh, do ya want me to carry the cooler or somethin?” Although curious as to the change in behavior, the three quarters human simply shrugs it off, patting the little cutie on the head and leaning down to pick up the cooler box. “Nah, I’ve got it. Now, why don’t you say goodbye to Amethyst, okay?”</p><p> </p><p>The icebox is light as air in their arms, but is still a bit unwieldy in shape, so they cock their hip out and nestle it in between their arm and side, watching as the two gems say their goodbyes...wait, was that patronizing? Spinel doesn’t seem offended at least, and Amethyst obviously thinks the whole situation is amusing, so that’s good, but that was still a bit weird. Eh, not the weirdest thing to come out of their mouth. </p><p> </p><p>They put Mole and Back Hand’s gems on a little screen that Mei sends their way while they have a minute, giving Spinel another hair-ruffle once she walks back over to Stevonnie. As they walk back over to get the duffel bag, the pinkette goes to grab Stevonnie’s hand out of habit, and without much thought of her own Stevonnie lets her. It’s nice, in a way that Steven and Connie are used to, but that is both new and familiar to Stevonnie. They might just fuse more often, now that Stevonnie has someone else to love too.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hooray, fusions galore! Also more of Spinel being a bisexual disaster, and an actual description for Stevonnie, plus some character interaction between them. Considering the diamond panels are individual panels of hardlight, I figure that once Steven gets a handle on controlling those it would give some massive advantages in a fight. Also some other little things in the fight, like the return of the reverberation effect that Steven showed off during the Lapis water clone fight. Let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas for chapters!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Spinel Finds the Internet</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey everyone! Sorry about the delay, lots of stuff going on as I'm sure you know. By the way, thank you all for the kudos, which there is now 50 of! You guys are great!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Little Homeworld is somewhat of an odd reflection of Beach City. Rather than a melting pot of human culture with hints of Homeworld influence, Little Homeworld is a strange hodgepodge of different court aesthetics and sub-aesthetics based on what colony worlds they came from, with only the occasional more human-like building thrown in. It even had the same evidence of recent expansion as Beach City, a second rectangular ring built up around the central sector. Right now though, Spinel was more interested in the head currently between her legs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, you doing alright up there Spinel?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Y-yep! Doin swell, thanks!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie had been pulled in to work because of some kind of minor emergency, something about a yearly party? She and Steven both were excited about it, but apparently it involved a lot of organization so the brunette had been harried by lots of some kind of beast called ‘paperwork’. She wasn’t too worried though, Connie was scary good with that sword of hers. Thanks to that, Steven had taken her to Little Homeworld to see the sights while he met with someone, which led to their current situation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now, Spinel knew that there was more chance of Steven getting tired than there was of her. She also knew that the chances of them getting separated in the crowd were slim to none, and that if she really wanted to look at things from a higher point of view she could just stretch her limbs out easily. But she’d also seen the smaller child humans riding on the shoulders of their parents, and she’d wanted to try it out, and you could fight her on it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>One main problem though. Her outfit for the day, a button up shirt, plaid skater skirt and spats underneath, does very little to insulate her from the feel of Steven’s broad shoulders, and this kind of sustained contact with certain parts of her form was doing </span>
  <em>
    <span>very distracting things for her.</span>
  </em>
  <span> So, despite Steven helpfully pointing out little fun facts about the surrounding buildings, Spinel was just doing her best not to squirm. He seemed to slowly get more confused and a little concerned as time wore on though, enough that she’d been able to notice even in her distracted state.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, are </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> ok? We’re s’posed to meet someone, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, that’s the thing. I was supposed to meet Bismuth almost a half an hour ago, bughf-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>One moment, Spinel is looking down at Steven as he looks around, scratching at his cheek idly while looking for the gem in question. The next, Steven’s gone, she’s flat on her back, and she has no idea what just happened. After blinking in shock for a good few seconds, she sits up and looks around frantically, trying to see through the already settling dust around her. Before she can really process what happened and start to freak out, an orange blur speeds towards her out of the corner of her eye, and suddenly a large hand that practically engulfs her torso is clamped around her, there’s a rush of wind and speed that sends her limbs flailing like limp noodles, and she’s now in an entirely different location.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thankfully said location has a similarly discombobulated Steven in it, and she latches her hand onto his like a vice before taking the time to actually take in where they are and what’s happening. They seem to be on one of the taller roofs, considering she can only spot the main tower and the tops of a few other buildings nearby. Rather than a clear space though, it’s completely littered in random machines and materials. It’s an odd mixture of gem and human tech, like the toaster oven that seems to be baking clear glass discs, or the growth tank for crystalline metal that seems to have plant matter for seeding, rather than a crystal seed. There’s also tons of soot and ash all over the place, seemingly from multiple explosions.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Whooo boy, I should have expected something like this...” She looks back to Steven, relaxing a bit once she sees that he looks more exasperated than wary or scared.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Eh? Do you recognize this dump?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oi! This isn’t a dump, it’s my </span>
  <em>
    <span>laboratory!</span>
  </em>
  <span>” She squeaks a little at the new voice, on the higher side but loud and booming. The voice in question belongs to the gem that peeks out from behind the growth tank, a fusion considering they have to crouch behind the large metal barrel in order to properly hide. Their face shifts from indignation to confusion, then to disappointment, palming her face as she steps fully into view. “Drats, I ruined my entrance...” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The fusion is tall and broad, most of her figure hidden underneath a peach colored scientist’s lab coat. Mostly humanoid, the main differences are the fact that she has arms at her shoulders that seem built for punching mountains, with a second pair growing from her ribs that are long and slender, currently fiddling with some kind of robonoid. Her skin is a dark brownish-orange which contrasts with her hair, long neon blue tubes capped with grey, each one twitching like they’re ready to move at a moment’s thought. It isn’t until she sees the Peridot and Bismuth shaped gems in the fusion’s forehead and chest that she realizes who she’s looking at. Steven, for his part, simply shakes his head in bemusement.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Scheelite, nice to see you. Any particular reason Bismuth wanted me to come here?” The orange gem, who had devolved into intense muttering about behavioral reaction measurements, looks back up at Steven and her blankly for a moment before seeming to come back into the present. She perks up a little and-</span>
  <em>
    <span>oh wow she’s right in their faces</span>
  </em>
  <span>-a small rush of wind blows Spinels hair back, blinking and pulling herself a little bit closer to her favorite hybrid at the manic grin Scheelite gives Steven, holding a glass bottle up in his face while the sunlight flares off of her protective goggles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah, quite right! I need your spit.” The manic grin stays on the fusion’s face, even as Steven slowly raises his brow at her. It takes a long, awkward moment before the fluorescence-haired gem seems to connect some mental dots, leaning back away from the duo and allowing Spinel to breathe a bit easier. “Oh, yes, explanations! Come over here, I’ll show you my current experiment.” Another rush of air and suddenly the fusion is standing next to the growth tank once more, fiddling with a screen with her lower hands while the upper pair starts shoveling more of the little plant grains-I think it’s called rice?-into the machine. Three of her tube-like strands of hair lift up like snakes from her head, the grey caps at the ends morphing little pegs before plugging into the tank. The pore cords glow brightly as the tank starts to groan and vibrate, the liquid inside sparking slightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven sighs, standing up and bringing Spinel to her feet with him, giving her a pat on the head as he starts to walk over to the mad scientist. “Why don’t you look around for a bit while I try to rein her in? Just uh, don’t touch anything you don’t recognize, there’s a good chance it’ll explode otherwise.” She has to blink and just, process what the heck just happened for a bit, eventually deciding to put her confusion in a mental ‘It’s crazy, just ignore it’ box as she walks around the ‘laboratory.’</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Although there are plenty of finished projects like the growth tank, there are many more half-working creations and piles of raw material. There’s something that looks like a taffy machine, pulling and working at a partly transparent gooey material, slowly getting clearer as she watches it. Right next to it is a stack of old human VCR’s stacked around a satellite dish, and next to that is what seems to be a repurposed deep fryer, a mint green liquid simmering inside. Eventually, she comes across a pile of more modern electronics, a bunch of laptops, computer monitors and smartphones stuck together like a giant tetris cube.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She picks one of the more intact looking phones up, and turning it over she finds that the back has been replaced with what looks like some kind of mundane, selectively grown rutilated quartz plate, a miniature retractable antenna popping up from the top. Considering the chances of it actually hurting her even if it does blow up is pretty small, she holds it away from her and presses the on button on the side, bracing for whatever might happen. Thankfully, she doesn’t get poofed by a sudden blast of heat and slag, instead just being met with a soft chime.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Opening her eyes, she looks to see the phone had opened up to a regular, default screen. After winding her stretched arms back in, she takes a closer look to find that the battery just has an infinity symbol, and the signal just has a small ‘Yes’ instead of the regular signal bars. So, definitely not a normal phone. The background was kind of cute though, it had some kind of chibi foodstuffs that looked like they were...on the brink of tears? She could relate. After a moment’s thought, the pinkette nods to herself before starting to make her way back through the maze of random science, walking towards the sounds of slightly unhinged laughter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After some frustration at the complicated layout that somehow had gotten her lost on a roof that couldn’t be more than 30ft across, she eventually just decided to stretch up and over the stacks, coming back down in the little center clearing Steven and Scheelite were working in, legs turning into springs to absorb the impact. It seems the rice experiment didn’t work out, considering the floor was covered in little marbles with popped rice grains stuck inside of them, the fusion laughing hysterically after falling on them. Steven just looks like he wants to be anywhere else at the moment, so hopefully her intruding isn’t too much of an issue.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Scheelite, right? Is this phone gonna explode or anythin?” Rather than risking a slip-up on the marbles, she stretches the device over to the downed gem, watching her focus in on the device for a long moment before recognizing it. She tilts her head a little as one of her slender arms takes the phone from Spinel’s hands, the bulkier set brushing aside the marbles so the fusion can stand back up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mm? Oh yes! I was trying to hybridize some gem equipment into human technology, and I ended up making things like this. I call it the G-Phone!” She strikes a pose, phone held in front of her face with her other hands placed to accentuate her arrogant stance. Spinel thought it was quite cool-looking, though that may just be because it reminded her of the anime she’d been binging with Connie and Steven. The latter of which seemed completely unaffected, simply sighing in a very tired way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Scheelite?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How exactly did you get all those phones?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...Legally?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The fusion continues holding her pose, slowly beginning to sweat as Steven kept giving her a completely </span>
  <em>
    <span>done</span>
  </em>
  <span> look, Spinel just snickering at the by-play. After a few more moments the orange gem coughs and looks back to the pinkette, tossing the phone back over to her. “But yes! It’s a fully functional device, I even set it up so that it has unlimited data without those pesky companies getting in the way. Why do you ask?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, would’ya mind if I took it? The background is nice, an I’ve kinda been wanting a way to check out the internet. Rutia is kinda vague on what you can find there, but it’s supposed to be this big mixup of human stuff.” She fiddles with the antenna slightly, and so she is caught by surprise when Steven wraps her up in a one-armed hug, looking up to see him giving her a soft look, one of the looks that makes her want to do a lot of things.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Aww, Spinel, I’d have gotten you a phone if you wanted one! That and Scheelite probably has some big plan for-” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh no, I actually want her to take it!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“-bwah?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The fusion, now slowly picking up the rice marbles and putting them in a morphed bucket hand, gives them both a thumbs up as she explains. “I kind of just made them on a whim, but having someone quality test it would be great data for Peridot. Go ahead and take it, girl! And thanks for humoring me, Steven!” That seems to be a dismissal, the fusion focusing back on collecting the marbles and muttering to herself under her breath like the duo aren’t there. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thankfully, between Steven’s floating powers and Spinel’s springiness, they could just jump off the edge of the building without having to try and find some other way down, and soon enough they’re back on the streets, slowly making their way to the central warp pad. Spinel elected to just walk with Steven rather than ride on his shoulders, she’d had enough stimulation of various kinds for the day, thank you. Instead she walked next to him, one arm looped around his a few times while she fiddled with her new phone, taking a moment to look back up at Scheelite’s rooftop at the sound of a distant explosion. “Are those two going to be ok?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm? Oh, yeah, they’ll tire themselves out in a day or two. Scheelite is very much a ‘party hard, don’t think about the next morning’ kind of fusion. They’ll be fine after a bit.” He ruffles the pinkette’s hair, getting a playful pout out of her before she refocuses on her new device once more, finally finding the Gaggle Fire internet app. Not exactly the most user-friendly default interface, to be sure. Still, she opens the app and thinks over what she wants to look up. What did she want to find the most?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Search: What do humans like?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Food:</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven slowly woke up Saturday morning to a warm body snuggled into his side and the smell of food cooking. He and Connie had decided once they’d agreed to be open to bringing Spinel into their relationship that there wasn’t really a reason to sleep in separate beds, with the pinkette usually sitting at the foot of the bed while they slept, still not comfortable trying to sleep herself. Considering his Jam bud was currently mostly asleep and nibbling at his sleeve thanks to the pleasant smell in the air, he had to guess that Pearl or Garnet had stopped by and decided to pitch in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After taking a minute to rouse himself into something adjacent to alertness and waking Connie up-partly with the help of the smell of coffee coming from downstairs-so they can get ready for the day, they both walk down to find quite a surprise. He hadn’t really noticed while getting up that Spinel wasn’t in the room, she sometimes liked to wander around the beach house or watch TV on the flatscreen on low volume, but instead she looked to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>cooking</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s a strange motley group of foods, though thankfully she didn’t empty out the fridge doing so. There’s meatloaf, omelets, toast and fruit, something that looks like miso soup, and a few other things which he doesn’t have much time to focus on because </span>
  <em>
    <span>oh stars she looks so cute</span>
  </em>
  <span>. With an apron over boy shorts and a loose shirt, flour on her hands and a smear of batter on her cheek as she works at a bowl with a spoon, tongue poking out of her mouth in focus, it makes him want to just cuddle her like a stuffed animal until the sun explodes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The small, high pitched sound coming from his side shows that he’s not the only one, Connie squeezing his arm to have an outlet for the sheer cuteness overload. Of course, the sound clues Spinel into them being downstairs, getting one of those adorable squeaks out of her as she focuses on them. The pinkette looks sheepish, putting down the bowl and laughing a little. “O-oh, hey! How’s it going?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With a buzz in his gem, he realizes then that Spinel did this for </span>
  <em>
    <span>them</span>
  </em>
  <span>, something that she probably wouldn’t bother with when she has hard candies and drinks to choose from. This is her looking for approval, but in a way she worked for, rather than just being told she’s good. With that in mind, he subtly nudges the brownette at his side, Connie locking eyes with him and having a silent conversation for a moment before they refocus on their stretchy cinnamon bun.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Nothing much, just woke up. When did you learn to cook, by the way? This all looks very nice.” Connie takes the lead, walking to the stools with him right behind her, noticing the way Spinel seems to puff up a little at the praise. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Naw, it’s not that great. This is actually the first time I’ve done more than make a pancake! I’ve been looking at a lot of cooking show videos and stuff online! I was super careful following the recipes, so it should all be human friendly at least.” He chuckles as they both sit down, reaching over to get rid of the batter smear on the gem’s face and getting a blush out of her as he replies.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t be so modest, a lot of people wouldn’t be able to cook this well on their first real try! I know I definitely wasn’t as nutritionally balanced when making breakfast as a kid. You did a good job, Spinny.” He gives her an encouraging smile, though the sputtering and red face combined with Connie’s chuckle makes him realize what exactly he just said. His bud elbows him as she starts grabbing bits of food for her plate, ignoring the fact that a good 80 percent isn’t breakfast food.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Spinny, huh? Good thing I’ve got a pet name, or else I’d feel jealous!” That gets a laugh out of him too, Spinel eventually joining in with a giggle of her own once she gets over the new name. Definitely one of the nicer ways to wake up, that’s for sure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Memes:</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lion, as an immortal pink lion that can literally shout portals into existence, has not aged a day in the 5 years since Spinel had last seen him. The smaller feline </span>
  <em>
    <span>is</span>
  </em>
  <span> new to her, though apparently she’s adult age for her species? A cute animal either way, which is perfect for her purposes. Thankfully, the two felines are amenable to her messing around with them, though the twitching tail on Lion is oddly ominous by the time that she has them in the perfect position. That’s fine though, she just needs to take a picture or ten.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Spinel? What are you doing with Lion and Cat Steven?” She looks up to see Steven standing nearby, looking at her and the cats with a bemused expression on his face. Usually she’d stutter or blush or something like that, but for this? She just gives him a determined grin, holding up her phone so he can see the picture of Cat Steven laying next to Lion, the larger cat looking at the camera, already edited with the text ‘Don’t talk to me or my son ever again’. “I’m making a meme!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This is apparently completely outside of his expectations as he just blanks for a moment, before snorting a little, as much out of surprise as from the joke, but she’ll take it. “I feel like I shouldn’t be surprised that you found out about memes, they’re everywhere after all. Not that it’s at all a bad thing, but why are you making memes?” She perks up a little, going to the Cheeper app to show him her new page.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, memes are like online inside jokes, right? They’re so easy to make that I can use or make one like, 20 times a day, and even though it’s not as satisfying as an in-person joke, they’re a great mood lifter! I never thought I’d get to be an entertainment gem again, but it turns out there’s a lotta people that like the same humour I’ve gotten.” She gives him an excited grin, happy to be sharing something like this with him, for once not worrying about how he’ll react because, well, this is a human thing. Of course, when he pulls her into a hug, murmuring something about pure infants, she flusters a little but doesn’t resist that chance to snuggle into him some. It’s nice, having people she can be so open with.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Porn:</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There’s a very faint sound in the beach house, one that’s too muddled to really place, but Connie has a very good idea of what it is. Spinel had asked her what porn was earlier in the day, curious as to what the big deal about the stuff she’d used as part of her references was, so she’d sat her down and explained the basics of why porn is a thing, about masturbation, basically a less detailed version of what her own mother gave her. She cut out the reproduction and STD parts though, pregnancy and infections were pretty much impossible for gems, they still didn’t know how Pink Mom managed it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The noise started to get louder as she focused on her book, to the point that Steven actually hears it, breaking him out of his focus on the latest Lonely Blade reboot movie. You’d think Hollywood would have realized they weren’t going to recapture the magic of the first movie, but she’d given up on getting Steven to realize the error of his ways on that front a while ago. Right now though, he looks around the room, tilting his head like a dog trying to figure out what was going on.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, do you hear that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mm? Oh, yeah, I’m pretty sure Spinel’s masturbating.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If he’d been drinking anything, he’d have done a spit-take. Instead, he almost falls off the bed, jerking his head to give her such a look of incredulousness that she can’t help cracking up. It takes a long minute for her to calm down, Steven pouting at her the whole time before finally speaking up as she gets her breath back. “So, how exactly do you know this?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She asked me about porn so I had a cliff notes version of The Talk with her, even suggested she try it out in the bathroom. She’s very open about being cuddly and everything, but something like your first time schlicking it is something private.” The way he blushes when she gets a bit crude is always enjoyable to see, even better when the noise, which had slowly grown into clear moans as they spoke, suddenly pitched up into an orgasmic yell that sent his face burning. Heck, it even made her blush, that sounded straight up </span>
  <em>
    <span>lewd.</span>
  </em>
  
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She sends her Biscuit some waggling eyebrows once things go quiet, earning a red-faced huff as he turns back to the movie, not-so subtly adjusting his pants as he does. She giggles a little at her chaste man, getting back to her book herself. It doesn’t last long though, only a minute or so later and there’s the sound of someone running up the stairs. Looking up, she sees a very frazzled-looking Spinel on all fours on the steps, speaking up as soon as her head is above the top step.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Polish my gem, that felt awesome! And humans can just, </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span> that? Whenever they want?!” Despite the fact that her hair was even more fizzy than ever, she looked a bit sweaty, and her pants weren’t quite on, hanging a little low on her hips, she looked giddy and bright, that glow that you only get after having some intimate time to yourself. Connie </span>
  <em>
    <span>may</span>
  </em>
  <span> feel an almost predatory feeling of wanting to make the gem even more sweaty and frazzled, but she’d never tell. Instead she just gives Spinel a coy smile while Steven just buries his face in the crook of his arm, putting her chin in her hand as she speaks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, everyone has their limits on how often they can, but in general, yes. Among other things. Just remember though, keep it in the beach house and not in front of other people, humans have cultural norms about it, like how being naked is weird.” She gets a slightly disappointed but understanding nod from the pinkette in return, the gem taking her words in like a sponge. She wasn’t sure when she’d first met Spinel, but now she couldn’t wait until they could all stop with the beating around the bush. Steven insisted that they give her time to make sure that her feelings were natural, but despite being an empath he could be quite dense. Good thing he had her for keeping things from getting too ‘Anime Highschool Rom-Com’ in this relationship.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Be There For You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello everyone! This one is a bit short, but it's more of an emotional chapter so I didn't want to just make it part of a larger chapter. Just as a warning, this includes a panic attack, I've never had one myself but I tried to do my best to portray it correctly.</p><p>Hot Take: I didn't really like Homeworld Bound (and not just because it officially makes this fic AU). It just feels too much like the crew is wiping away the fact that the Diamonds were terrible people, and they kind of just removed the fact that shattering is a very serious thing, the equivalent of death. I mean, they literally just had Jasper shattered as a major emotional point of the last episode! That isn't the reason that I made this chapter-I was actually making it before the episode came out-but it felt relevant. Traumatic stuff like what Spinel went through isn't something that should be solved with drug clouds.</p><p>Anyways, let me know what you think, this is my first time trying to write out a song/scene like this. In case it isn't clear, Steven is underline, Connie is bold, and Spinel is italics, with combinations being them singing the same line together.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It really isn’t some big thing that sets her off.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Steven had managed to schedule time off at the same time as Connie got an early leave from work, so that they could all go to the movie theater for some big premiere. Despite the large crowd, Steven and Connie had many connections, mainly a Peridot that was about as obsessed with movies as any human and with almost constant access to the internet, which made getting extra tickets quite easy. It had been fun, she’d had some butterscotch and grape soda, torn apart the plot with Connie, laughed at the corny jokes with Steven, overall a good time. They’d gone back to the beach house, ready to set in for the night, and…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She tripped.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nothing too serious, her shoe laces had just been loose and she’d gotten the lace of one stuck under her other foot. Any other time, she’d have just made some slapstick from the opportunity and got a laugh out of it. But for some reason the tug against her foot felt </span>
  <em>
    <span>too</span>
  </em>
  <span> familiar, the feel of roots trying to wrench her back to her spot, and she wasn’t thinking about the fact she was in the beach house, </span>
  <em>
    <span>she was back at the garden covered in dead and she wasn’t supposed to move if she did she’d </span>
  </em>
  <span>lose </span>
  <em>
    <span>and if she lostshe’d neverseePinkagainbecauseshepromisedshe’dcomebackshePROMISED-</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It takes a while for her to come back to herself enough to notice that she isn’t standing in the middle of the room anymore-</span>
  <em>
    <span>whydidshemovesheshouldn’thavemoved thatmeansshe</span>
  </em>
  <span>-instead she has her back to something warm, a large set of arms hugging her from behind as she sits on the couch. Her breaths come in stuttering, heaving gasps, halfway between a sob and a scream, but there’s hands holding her face by the cheeks and a familiar face in front of hers, and aren’t they saying something? She should pay attention, a Spinel always needs to know when to step in with a joke-</span>
  <em>
    <span>her friend the butterfly always liked jokes, he never laughed but she could tell he did, laughing until he stopped moving why did he do that</span>
  </em>
  <span>-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“-ur ok, alright Spinel? I just want you to breathe with me, take a deep breath in and hold it for 5 seconds, let it go for 4, ok?” Yeah, sure, she could try to do that, she’s always been good with orders. At first she can barely get herself to try, but after a couple of attempts she manages to copy the long breaths in and out Connie-</span>
  <em>
    <span>right, Connie, she’s a friend, even better than</span>
  </em>
  <span>-after a moment, she finally connects the dots, she isn’t back at The Garden, she isn’t stuck in a game, she’s with two people she’s learned to love more than Pink ever did her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, you’re good, we’re right here ok? Just let us know what you need.” And that’s Steven behind her, helping ground her in the now with a big hug, and she just loves them </span>
  <em>
    <span>so much.</span>
  </em>
  <span> She isn’t quite aware of doing it, but when she breaks into tears and pulls Connie into the hug with her noodly arms-</span>
  <em>
    <span>human arms, so different from the ones she used with a scythe of light</span>
  </em>
  <span>-and this time she’s crying as much from relief as love or grief or any of the other thousand things she’s feeling right now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She’s not sure how long she stayed there, smooshed inside a human sandwich, bawling her eyes out. She’s also not sure how long she continued to stay there after she ran out of tears, arms wrapped around them both like a lifeline, sniffling into Connie’s shoulder with her tears slowly dissolving into sparkles of light and leaving the brunette’s shirt dry. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eventually though, she lets go of them, arms slowly winding back to regular lengths as she sits in their laps, noticing out of the corner of her eye that the evening sun is now practically under the horizon. Jeez, it must have been like an hour or two she was crying all over them. She sniffles one more time, running her hand across her face roughly, looking down at her other hand in her lap so she doesn’t have to see their faces.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“S-sorry about all that, I don’t know what came over me there. Gosh, and you two had ta coddle me the whole time-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Something about the tone there, none of the annoyance or disgust she’d been somehow sure would be there, makes her look up. All she gets is two wonderful people, giving her soft, reassuring smiles that sends a powerful warmth through her gem. Steven and Connie help her move around so that she’s sitting on the couch smooshed between them, legs in the hybrid's lap and her head resting on Connie’s shoulder. With Steven’s arm around her and Connie’s shoulders, and Connie slowly running her fingers through her hair, she never wants to leave this spot. She can just barely feel in her periphery the gentle glow-buzz of anticipation, looking up as Steven starts to sing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <span>“Moving through life, day by day,”</span>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <span>“It always seems like there’s something else, to do.”</span>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <span>“One thing to the next, nobody’s there to see it affect you~uuooouu~”</span>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <span>“And sometimes you’ll stumble or falter, sometimes you’ll crack or bruise,”</span>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <span>“Sometimes it just feels like there’s too much hanging on what you do...”</span>
  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As he sings, his gem glows just enough to be noticeable, eyes seeming to focus on something in the distance, and suddenly the flatscreen flickers and glitches to life. A collection of first-person perspectives start scrolling across the screen, a collage of some of the many things that Steven had gone through in his life. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A corrupted centipede monster, and the need to electrify it to save his family. Befriending that same centipede, only for it to sacrifice itself to save him. Shots of breakdowns of all his family, thousands of years of repressed emotion dumping out on him and each other. A massive graveyard made alive, confused and hurt and unsure like a living ocean of light. A kidnapped father, a generation ship of humans who had never seen their home, a room of the gems his mother disguised herself as, left to collect dust. Learning his true heritage, owning up to it in his mother's place, the death and revival of a friend. The corruption of an old enemy, redemption of Blue and Yellow. Two black nails at his belly, two Stevens in two different places, surrounded by grey mindless drones…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before Steven’s somewhat grim face can get any worse, Spinel feels the anticipation and emotion in the song call to her. Connie, despite not being a gem, seems to intuit the music just as easily, the brunette rubbing her thumb along the back of Steven’s hand while Spinel snuggles a bit closer to him, singing in unison as the images start to fade.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>
    <em>“But it’s okay~ay~ay to be angry, it’s okay~ay~ay to be sad,”</em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>“When the end of the day, seems so far, far away,”</em>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>“We’ll, be there, with you~”</em>
  </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The hybrid gives off a little wet chuckle, wiping away a tear as he gives the both of them a smile. After a moment, he looks to Connie as he wraps his hand around hers, the faintest buzz of light coursing under the human’s skin as she looks to the TV, a sparkle settling in her eyes for want of a gem.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>“Every adventure, seems like a struggle,”</b>
</p><p>
  <b>“There’s so much catching up, you need to do.”</b>
</p><p>
  <b>“A whole world of difference, between them all and you~uuooouu~”</b>
</p><p>
  <b>“And sometimes you just can’t do it, sometimes you have to find another way,”</b>
</p><p>
  <b>“Sometimes it feels like you’ll never be up there with them too...”</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>More memories scroll over the screen, Connie watching on with a stoicism Spinel had never seen before. A dozen different towns, a dozen different schools, and a dozen different crowds of students, rarely enough time to learn more than a handful of their names. A terrifying day in a bubble, the knowledge that aliens are real and more powerful than any human, and not all of them are friendly. Training to be capable, and nearly being ground into a mindless soldier for it. Breaking someone’s arm because of her new lifestyle. Getting into fight after fight to prove she’s on the same level as a gem. Her best friend getting into life-threatening danger seemingly every time she turns her back. Carrying his dying body to a pink version of himself…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The pattern of the music is clear now, though even without it Spinel would have done something to comfort her favorite full human. She wraps an arm around Connie’s waist, giving her a little squeeze while Steven puts a kiss on the brunette’s forehead, and the words practically spill out of her, harmonizing with Steven with a comforting ease.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <em>
      <span>“But it’s okay~ay~ay to be angry, it’s okay~ay~ay to be sad,”</span>
    </em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <em>
      <span>“When the end of the day, seems so far, far away,”</span>
    </em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <em>
      <span>“We’ll, be there, with you~”</span>
    </em>
  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Connie breaks out of the trance, giving the two a half-smile before returning their hugs even harder. As her memories flicker off the screen, she and Steven look down at her with patient looks, a feeling of ‘you don’t have to, but if you want’ passing between them all. But the music is there, in the air, and she really should let something like this out anyways. They deserve to hear her thoughts, after everything. She takes a deep breath, voice wobbly but growing steady as she starts to sing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“The wait never seemed, like it’d be over,”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“But now there’s almost too much, that you can do.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“It’s like you’re an old play-thing, everything’s different around you~uuooouu~”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“And sometimes it’s all overwhelming, sometimes you can’t take it anymore,”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Sometimes you just want to close that open door you stepped through...”</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The screen looks like a timelapse for a long minute, starting with Pink’s back being covered with warp light, inching through the garden living, overgrowing, and slowly dying away, all the while with nothing but her hands, prim and proper, held out in front of her. The message, a blurry picture of the stone as she breaks down, her misadventures on earth. Those first awkward months with the Diamonds as they figured themselves out as much as she was with herself, learning of all the new advancements in the GDA, the quiet, secret breakdowns when she had to stay on her own while they were busy…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And then she’s reminded of where she is once more, pulled into a group hug, snuggled up with her favorite people in the universe. Steven ruffles her hair in that fond way he does, and Connie pulls her into her chest like she never wants to let go of her, and she just loves them </span>
  <em>
    <span>so much</span>
  </em>
  <span>, in a way she never thought was possible. As terrible as that attack was, she’s very glad to have the people she does. The end of the song hums through the air, first just Connie and Steven, but she joins in for the last line along with them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <b>“But it’s okay~ay~ay to be angry, it’s okay~ay~ay to be sad,”</b>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <b>“When the end of the day, seems so far, far away,”</b>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <b>“We’ll, be there, with you~”</b>
  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <b>
      <em>“We’ll, be there, with you~”</em>
    </b>
  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As the sun finally sets outside, leaving the three of them in rosy sunset lighting, long shadows stretched across the room, the screen starts scrolling through different memories. A younger Steven and Connie, slowly becoming friends, training together, fusing together, saving the galaxy together. Dates, movies, their first kiss. Spinel coming back to earth, and the shenanigans that she had gotten into with the duo, slowly worming her way into them and making them a trio.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When she later finds the lace-up shoes in her corner of the closet gone, she doesn’t mention it, but she makes sure to give her humans a nice, big hug for the thought.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Ooof, yeah. Anyone notice that butterflies have a lot of trauma relation in this show? I hope I did the whole panic attack thing respectfully, and let me know if you have any ideas for chapter storylines you'd want to see!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Candygirl Gets Some Lovin [NSFW]</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hoo boy, that finale huh? But yeah, hello again, sorry for the long delay!<br/>Considering that the revelations over the rest of Steven Universe Future have made this very decidedly AU either way, I've decided to roll things back and say that this fic is cannon compliant up until Change Your Mind. The SU Movie happens too with fairly little change, simply because it happens in a little less than a day or two, which means that human responses to the sudden entrance of a giant earth-killinator meant that human militia only got there in time to help with the evacuation near the end of the movie.<br/>Before that, and for the five years afterwords, things are a good bit different. Ya'll know for a fact that America wouldn't just let a literal alien empire set up on their land, even in the alternate America the SU universe happens in. So, rather than just having a 'happily ever after' where Steven can't find anyone else to really help, which leads to a lot of the problems in Steven's emotional state during SUF, he has a constant stream of issues to solve when it comes to integrating the gem empire into the earth and vice-versa.<br/>Thanks to all that non-beach city human interaction, he's slowly able to release his emotional pressures and internalized issues over time, rather then having them all build up until he explodes into the Not-Quite-Alaskan-Bullworm incident that happens during I am My Monster. So yeah, things happen differently in a lot of ways, but that's the jist of my explanation as to why things are happening as they are right now in The King, The Queen, and The Fool.<br/>Speaking of which, here's the chapter you degenerates have all been waiting for, a full chapter that's all NSFW! That and a lot of fluffyness, but still, mostly Lewd Shit, so for those that don't like that, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until next chapter. Anyways, hope you all enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Things change a little, once they all have their little sing-along. Not in a bad way, not at all! It’s actually pretty nice, if one were to ask Spinel her opinion. Before then, she’d known that Steven and Connie were closer to each other than they were with her, something that made sense logically considering how long they had known each other. But it was also in how they held each other when they hugged, the smoky looks that passed between them over her head, chaste kisses that seem to want more. She didn’t ever mind much, she was just glad that she could get the platonic affection they both seemed to heap onto her whenever she did something they thought was cute.</p><p> </p><p>As the week or so after the Tripping Incident continued on though, she noticed that there wasn’t that slight border anymore. Hugs with Steven were just that bit more intimate, Connie would kiss her cheek playfully, but not quite just in a regular friendly way. And it was something she received and gave back gladly! She hadn’t even really known what a kiss <em> was </em> except as an abstract concept in the movies they all watched together. But, when Connie gave her a teasing kiss on the lips goodnight just two days ago-laughing at the blush on Spinel and Steven’s faces when she’d unintentionally asked for more-with Steven following right after, it seemed to seal the deal in the new direction of the trio’s relationship.</p><p> </p><p>So, when Spinel walked into the bathroom to find Connie in the shower, she didn’t really react much. She knew that humans did it from her research, but with the shower curtain in the way she didn’t really connect the fact of ‘Connie is in the shower’ with ‘Connie is naked in the same room as her.’ Instead, she just went right up to the sink with a little hello, hearing the rare ‘Connie Eep’ as she brushes her teeth. She didn’t technically need to, being hardlight means that her body doesn’t really get dirty in the traditional sense, including her mouth, but she’d picked up the habit for the taste and texture as much as anything.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, Spinel? You know I’m taking a shower right?”</p><p> </p><p>“Mmm?” She spits out the toothpaste, looking at the steam coming up over the top of the curtain. “Yeah, you guys have to wash dirt and oil and stuff off with water, right?”</p><p> </p><p>There’s the sound of the curtain scraping along the shower rod, Connie’s head popping up on one side as she uses it to hide her chest and <em> wow that’s right she’s buck naked </em>. It’s a good thing that she’d already spat out the minty paste, because otherwise Spinel would have ended up doing a spit take. Her hair is slicked back with white suds, water dripping off of her skin, and the gem barely has the presence of mind to hear Connie, focused on the mischievous grin spreading across the human’s face.</p><p> </p><p>“And you know that humans do that nude, right?”</p><p> </p><p>Spinel finally breaks her gaze, a bright pink blush forming on her cheeks. “Sorry, sorry! I’ll uh, head back out now-” “-Want to join in?”</p><p> </p><p>And doesn’t <em> that </em> freeze her in her steps? Turning at the waist to look at brunette with a stunned look on her face, Connie simply giggles at her shock, slipping back behind the curtain as she speaks up over the droning sound of falling water. “Come on, some shampoo and conditioner should be great for your hair, even if you don’t really need it. It’ll be a nice bonding moment~”</p><p> </p><p>There’s a little something in the human’s voice that just does all the right things for Spinel, and it doesn’t take long for her to pile her clothes up next to Connie’s. She has to take a breath to steady herself-she’s going to be right up next to one of her likelights <em> naked! </em>-before peeking behind the curtain, stretching thin to slide past without needing to open it all the way up. “Alright, h-here I am!”</p><p> </p><p>Connie laughs a little at the pinkette’s timidness, looking over her shoulder at Spinel. “I can see! No need to be so worried Spinny, you know if you do anything you shouldn’t I’ll tell you. And you can do the same for me, alright?” The reassurance, while one that both of her humans had given her before, still helped her calm down some. Taking a deep breath, she steps a bit closer to Connie, fiddling with her fingers as she looks her over from the corner of her eye. The hot water that starts pattering against her skin helps to ground her thoughts, feeling like a warm massage and helping her truly relax. Spinel could definitely see the benefits in showers from that alone.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, yeah I know...Er, ya said that there’s somethin that’ll be good for my hair, right?” It takes a small measure of will to keep her eyes above Connie’s neck as she turns around to face her, bemusement clear on her face as she washes the last of the white foam from her hair with the water stream flowing down her neck. Now sudless, she steps to the side and gestures for Spinel to take her place.</p><p> </p><p>“Yep! Step on up, you need to get your hair wet for the soap to work properly.” After a little shuffling to reposition, slight brush-ups making Spinel shiver with pleasurable sensations, the pinkette ends up soaking up the heat and pressure of the water coming down right on top of her. The water streams across her hardlight and makes her hair-currently out of its ponytails-clump up into loose waves, hanging down to the bottom of her shoulders. Luxuriating in the novel feeling, she doesn’t even make a squeak when Connie starts threading her fingers through her maroon hair, lathering it up with something that smells like cinnamon and apples. The gem settles into somewhat of a trance, entrusting her hair to the more knowledgeable human and losing track of time for a bit.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey Spinny?” She makes a vaguely affirmative sound, only really starting to pay attention again when Connie pulls her into a hug from behind, blushing just a little at the feel of her breasts and toned body pressing up against her.<br/>
<br/>
“You know what we talked about with sex? About how me and Steven do it because we’re in a relationship?” Spinel looks up and to the side, leaning into Connie’s body some at the sultry look on the human’s face as she continues. “Would you...want to be in that relationship too?”</p><p> </p><p>Spinel swallows hard, and if she had a heart she knows that it’d be beating against her gem like a drum. “...Yeah, I’d like that a whole lot!” There! She said it! She needed Connie to pretty much smack her over the head with the offer, but still! Her favorite full human closes her eyes and giggles and <em> oh, </em> Spinel loves that lusty look in her eyes. That and the way the taller woman starts to trace her fingers over the petite breasts she’d formed. It feels <em> so </em> much better when someone else does it!</p><p> </p><p>“I’m glad to hear it! Before we go ahead and let Steven know though, how about we have a little fun...” Connie leans down a little to Spinel’s ear, purring in a way that makes a shiver go up her non-existent spine. “<em> That means you get to turn around and do whatever you want to me~ </em>” The pinkette lets out a little high-pitched noise, going still for a second before slowly turning around in Connie’s loosely held arms. With one last glance at Connie’s amused eyes, she breaks away from her gaze and finally takes a good, long look at her likelight.</p><p> </p><p>Her dark brown hair, slicked back behind her back, is just a little shorter than her own, a few strands stuck to her neck and shoulders. She’s about a head taller than Spinel, so that the gem is about face level with the tops of her boobs, perky brown breastflesh leading down into well toned arms and a tapered waist, a hint of the strong abs hidden there shown in her shallow ab crack. Flaring out into hips that are wider than Spinel’s, even if proportionally they’re around the same, strong thigh muscles separated by a slight thigh gap before leading down to fit calves, water falling down her body in little streams.</p><p> </p><p>A bit wobbly-kneed but not wanting to give up the chance, Spinel scrounges up her courage and gently places her hands on Connie’s belly, feeling up the muscle there slightly as she slides her hands up and down, glancing up to see her reaction. When all she gets is a giggle and an encouraging nod, Connie slowly tracing her own hands up and down Spinel’s back, the gem feels some of her nervous energy drain away. Soon enough, her hands travel up to Connie’s chest, squeezing down a little as she stands on her tip-toes, closing her eyes and giving the brunette a kiss.</p><p> </p><p>That gets a positive hum out of the human, Connie slowly introducing her to the world of french kissing as both of their hands continue to roam. After only a minute, Spinel is practically molding herself to her human, grinding up against the smooth skin of her thigh like a dog humping someone’s leg. Her gem glows in that intimate way Connie is used to from Steven, though a lighter, pastel pink compared to his more solid rose light.</p><p> </p><p>With Spinel’s inexperience with physical pleasure on the level you get from grinding one’s clit against a lover, it doesn’t take long for her to start gasping into their kiss, her moans and squeaks muffled as the brunette presses her thigh up into her crotch, forcing the pink gem’s subjective weight to press her virgin slit against the human’s knee. Finally, she breaks away from Connie’s mouth, letting a drawn out groan of pleasure as she lets off the sparkling glow of a gem orgasm. With her mouth open and tongue hanging out slightly, pupils morphed into small hearts as she gets Connie’s knee soaked for an entirely different reason than from being in a shower.</p><p> </p><p>“Wow, I didn’t know you’d get worked up that fast! I’m kind of proud I could get you like that, honestly~” Connie has to tighten her grip on the shorter gem, Spinel panting and snuggling up against her breasts, noodly limbs doing nothing to help her as she rides the taller girl’s thigh like a horse.</p><p> </p><p>“Th-tha...that was <em> great... </em>wait!” Spinel could have stayed like that, heaving against her likelight’s firm body until she got the energy to go again, but she perks up and leans back a little, sliding off of Connie’s leg and looking up at her, enjoying the bottom lighting from her slowly evaporating hardlight femcum. She can’t focus on that though! “Oh jeez, I didn’t get you off at all!”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, don’t worry about that!” Connie simply laughs at her anxious look, planting a kiss on the pinkette’s forehead and holding the sides of her face. “If you really want to, there’s plenty you can do to get me off, but seeing you squirming like that was a wonderful treat either way.” Spinel simply shakes her head with a little pout though, wanting to return the favor properly.</p><p> </p><p>“Nope, I wanna make you feel good too! And I think I know how ta do it...” The human of the duo simply sighs fondly. Finding the stubborn look on the gem’s face adorable. She’ll admit, she didn’t think she was going to get so worked up from having the smaller pinkette grinding against her like that, but <em> oh, </em> those heart eyes and the almost ahegao face did something for her...before she can think on that more though, the stronger light of a shapeshift takes her attention, drawing her eyes to Spinel’s crotch.</p><p> </p><p>First starting as a vague cylinder and sphere, after a few moments the shape resolves. Spinel had just gone from petite girl to a trap! Her newly shifted cock is the same pale cream color as the rest of her skin in her new body, except for the head which took on the same almost neon pink of the nipples on her perky A-cups. It’s very...her, surprisingly, probably a smidge longer than Steven but not as thick, with a smooth, surprisingly cute sack just below.</p><p> </p><p>Spinel, who’s hands had bunched up near her chest in her concentration, slowly opens her eyes to look down at her new tool, before giving Connie a nervous grin, giving some jazz hands. “Tadah! So, what do you think?” All Connie can do is laugh, sidling a little closer and placing a hand on the pinkette’s gem. She slowly trails her fingers down Spinel’s hardlight skin, enjoying the way she stiffens up in surprise, and the little squeak she gives when Connie’s hand wraps around the newly trap-ified gem’s tool, giving it a little squeeze as it quickly starts to harden.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, I like it very much~ I’m surprised though, how’d you know how to shift this cute little guy?”</p><p> </p><p>Spinel stammers a little, jerking her hips forward a little instinctively into Connie’s palm. “W-well, I looked at a b-bunch of references...” She shakes her head after a moment, grabbing the brunette's forearm with both hands and looking up at her with a pout. “Hey! <em> I’m </em> supposed to be makin <em> you </em> feel good this time!” Connie snorts a little, letting go of Spinel’s new organ and hugging her close.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh fine, I can’t help liking the way you squirm, but I’ll stop teasing you. Why don’t you show me what you can do with that, hmm?” Spinel still looks pouty as Connie holds her face to her chest, but that quickly changes with the way her cock slips between the taller woman’s thighs, rubbing up between them and the brunette’s entrance. The stretchy gem huffs but buries her face between her B-cup breasts, kissing and nipping at her skin as she uses some stretchy power to angle her shifted organ, thrusting her hips up and sliding up to the hilt in one quick movement.</p><p> </p><p>Connie stills and lets out a surprised sound as Spinel squeaks at the feeling of tight, warm flesh around her dick, peeking up at Connie’s face from between her boobs when the taller girl snorts and starts laughing. “W-what? Did I get the shape wrong or somethin?”</p><p> </p><p>“N-no, no, it’s not that, it’s just...” Getting her giggles under control, Connie shifts her hips a little, getting a shiver out of her current partner. “You feel like a dildo! I mean, I can feel you twitching in there, but there’s just something dildo-y about our new friend down under.”</p><p> </p><p>“So, it’s alright?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, sweetie, you shapeshifted a dick so you could fuck me ‘properly’, even if it didn’t feel good it would be perfect.” She leans down to peck Spinel on the lips, giving her a sultry smile as she purrs in the gem’s ear. “And it feels <em> very good. </em> Now, why don’t you get to work? You did say you wanted to please me, after all.” Spinel blushes and nods, giving Connie a kiss of her own, slowly trailing them down the brunette’s neck so she can get back to attacking her breasts, sucking on one of her nipples as the gem starts thrusting in and out of her.</p><p> </p><p>A mix of moans, squeaks and heavy breathing fill the room once more, only partly hidden in the constant drone of the falling shower water. Spinel is reduced to wrapping her arms around Connie’s waist like a lifeline, hips pistoning her cock in and out of the taller woman’s slick entrance like it’s the only thing she knows how to do, that same gasping, open mouthed, heart-eyed look on her face. Connie herself is having a hard time keeping it together, panting softly and bosom heaving, arms wrapped around Spinel’s thin shoulders and trying to keep her legs from giving out. A cock with stretchy powers, as it turns out, is very good at hitting all her sensitive spots.</p><p> </p><p>Of course, it doesn’t take long for things to end, even if their shower is starting to get conspicuously long. Spinel goes from the long, full-length thrusts to sharp, jerky motions, moaning out her orgasmic relief and falling limp against Connie once more as her gem lights up in sparkles once more. The brunette herself lets out a long, low sound of pleasure, more muted than Spinel’s reaction but no less satisfied as a flood of her own girlcum and a very pale pink hardlight cum leak from her lower lips. Breathing heavy, Connie chuckles a little as she reaches over and turns off the shower, using her other arm to hold up the pile of wet noodles that she calls a girlfriend, now able to break away from the pinkette as the shifted cock fades back into her usual entrance.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, that was really great fun. What did you think of it, Spinny?” Opening the curtain and helping Spinel sit on the edge of the tub, Connie steps out and grabs some towels, handing one to her shower-mate and starting to dry off.</p><p> </p><p>“I think I kind of want to do that forever?” The slightly still dazed gem answers honestly, getting a laugh out of Connie. The brunette runs her towel through her hair, happy to be one of the lucky girls that don’t really need to do much for their hair to look good. She turns to Spinel again, ready to speak, but pauses when the gem starts snickering at her lower half. Looking down at her crotch, she sees that her thighs are sparkling as the gem’s pseudo-cum dissolves into sparkles, a rod of light going straight up to just under her belly button shining like she’d stuffed a glowstick inside of her showing the same thing happening there.</p><p> </p><p>“Enjoying your work, I see?” Connie gives Spinel an exaggeratedly raised brow, hiding the already fading light show behind her towel, quickly joined by the pinkette as she jumps up to her feet, copying the way Connie ties her towel around her chest and giving the human a cheeky smile.</p><p> </p><p>“What can I say, I like the look!” She completes the compliment/joke with a peace sign, winking and sticking her tongue out, her bathroom companion simply snorting and rolling her eyes at the shenanigans. After a moment though, a grin grows on Connie’s face, and she leans down to whisper in Spinel’s ear.</p><p> </p><p>“Oooh, I’ve got an idea of how to tell Steven we’re a full trio now, and get him in the mood. Here’s what we’re going to do...”</p><p>____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</p><p> </p><p>Fun fact, people in big positions of power tend to have to do paperwork. This holds true even for interstellar overlords, and doubly so for ambassadors, even if very little of it is actually on paper anymore. As such, when Connie and Spinel take an oddly long time in the shower and brushing her teeth, respectively, Steven is a bit too into getting some of that paperwork done to really notice. He’s so into the zone in fact, it isn’t until he catches the sound of giggling and stretching rubber that he actually looks around, slightly disoriented after spending so long going over eurasian bylaws.</p><p> </p><p>Thanks to that, he doesn’t have the presence of mind to brace himself when a pink missile slams into his side, sending him off of his seat with the shouted words “<em> HeyStevenwannafuck- </em> ” ringing in his ears to groan on the floor from surprise more than anything. After a second of blinking up at the ceiling, he props himself up on his elbows, noticing Connie in a towel cracking up in the bathroom door frame, Spinel a giggling mess in his lap. He chuckles a little at the antics, about to reply, until he realizes that Spinel is a giggling, <em> naked </em> mess in his lap, and what she’d actually yelled out lodges itself in his head like a wrench in a machine, reducing him to a stuttering mess. “Wha-bu-did you-aah-”</p><p> </p><p>Still calming down from that snorting, cackling laugh that makes her run out of breath, the gem reorganises herself, sitting up and snuggling into his chest with a grin on her face. “Me an Connie did it in the shower, and let me tell ya it’s <em> great </em>! I can totally see why humans do it all the time.” Steven responds to that by doing a very good impression of a fish, sitting up fully while absently keeping the pinkette steady with an arm around her waist, looking between Connie and Spinel and just. Processing. After a moment wherein his favorite woman in the world walks up to the two, looking like the cat that caught the canary, he responds in a perfectly reasonable way for someone told that he’s now part of a forever threesome.</p><p> </p><p>“Jam, Spinny, I’m doing paperwork, I can’t be dealing with this much horny cuteness.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh come on, it’ll still be there later.” Connie snorts, kneeling down next to them, smooshing Spinel’s cheeks a little and giving him a coy smile. “Just look at this face! This is the face of someone who needs a very <em> physical </em> proof of love. Don’t you, spinny-winny?” The pinkette giggles at the baby voice at the end of her likelight’s speech, breaking free of the human’s grip to stretch up and give Steven a smooch before leaning back, not-so-subtly pressing into the crotch of his pants. Despite the teasing and erotic subtext of the whole situation, when she looks up at him again, he pays careful attention. He can tell that she’s opening up here, and in more than just wanting to be physically intimate.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m not sure if it’s just the relief from me and Connie havin a go that’s letting me say this-thank you very much for that by the way, I haven’t felt that relaxed in a <em> while. </em> ” Connie gives her a smile and a nod to continue, snuggling into Steven’s side. “But...I love you guys. You’re my likelights, My Steven and My Connie. And, I wanna do human stuff with you, including <em> this </em> kind of human stuff.” She places her hands just below Steven’s pecs, trailing them down to fiddle with his shirt near his gem. After a moment, she looks back up at him, giving him a smile halfway between cutely shy and erotically hungry. “So, why don’t you playtest this new body of mine properly, <em> My Diamond? </em>”</p><p> </p><p>If the heartfelt confession wasn’t enough to convince him, the sultry look that she must have learned from Connie combined with the way she turned ‘My Diamond’ into something <em> naughty </em> would have done him in. He snorts despite the blush across his cheeks, pulling the gem up into a deep kiss, switching over to giving Connie a quick one in thanks when the gem starts grinding up against him. “You know you could have just told me what happened instead of hitting me with a mass of horny pink spaghetti, right.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, but where would the fun be in that?” Connie helps him to her feet, hand in hand as they make their way over to the stairs, Steven with his back to the wall of screen door and windows to protect Spinel’s modesty. The stretchy gem for her part seems more focused on peppering his chin and face with smooches, getting some chuckles out of him at the exaggerated kissy sounds she was making, arms wrapped around his neck like a particularly energetic sloth.</p><p> </p><p>It doesn’t take long for the trio to find themselves on the bed, Spinel sitting between Connie’s legs and pitching a giggle-fit as the taller woman kisses her neck, trailing off as Steven gets off the last of his clothes. It’s pretty obvious that all the teasing hadn’t gone to waste on him, and she gulps audibly as she eyes his hard-on. “Woah...so uh, you wanna go first, or...?” Connie rolls her eyes when the gem looks up at her, eyes clearly still on Steven as he sits down next to them, muttering something about ‘feeling like a piece of meat’ from her stare.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh no sweetie, it’s all you right now, I’m still a bit wiped from the shower! Right now I’m here for emotional support. And to tease the hell out of you. Just pretend I’m a particularly lewd pillow to lean into~” With the brunette’s words of encouragement, Spinel takes a steadying breath, looking back at Steven who gives her an encouraging smile. She nods to herself, leaning back into Connie and spreading her legs, one hand slowly rubbing at her gem while the other spreads her lower lips. She gives her hybrid a cheeky grin, doing her best to hide her anticipation despite the fact she’s already practically drooling (from both pairs of lips, at that).</p><p> </p><p>“Well, what’re ya waiting for, <em> My Diamond </em>? I’m made for stretching, so you’d better push me to the limit!” He snorts and scoots closer, looming over her to give Connie a quick kiss before leaning down to give the pinkette one of her own, his gem slowly glowing in synch with Spinel’s as he lines up with her entrance.</p><p> </p><p>“Well when you ask like that, how could I refuse my favorite gem?”</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t let the CG hear you say that!” They all have a little laugh at Connie’s words, the human going back to tracing her fingers along Spinel’s skin, hugging her from behind as Steven slowly slides into her. Despite the fact that she realistically could stretch out many times more than what he makes her with his cock, there’s something very fulfilling in having him hilted to the base inside of her like this, getting a long groan out of her. The ridiculous amount of pleasure sensors packed into her pink, tight entrance definitely helps, though, such that it takes a moment to realize that Steven isn’t moving.</p><p> </p><p>Opening her eyes, she looks up to see him looking down at her with a surprised, curious expression on his face, making her blush and huff. “W-what? It’s not bad or anything, right?”</p><p>He blinks back to the now, blushing and ruffling her hair a little with a reassuring-if sheepish-laugh, even as he shifts his hips a little and gets a pleasurable little whine out of her.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, no, nothing wrong! It’s just, like...Connie, you remember when we tried out-”</p><p> </p><p>“She feels like an onahole, doesn’t she?” Connie gives him a raised brow, which gets a laugh out of him, sending her into a chuckle-fit herself. Spinel meanwhile just huffs in between her two big humans, squeezing down around Steven to get his attention, enjoying the way he grunts a little in pleasure before looking back down at her..</p><p> </p><p>“Look, I’m still not good at shapeshifting these kinds of organs! I’m gonna have to practice to get ‘em right either way, so you’ll have to bear with it-” </p><p> </p><p>“No, no, it’s not bad at all! It’s very you, actually.” Steven wraps both of his girls into a hug, smooshing Spinel into a much more lewd human-gem sandwich for a few moments. She can’t say that she hates it though, she gets to drown in muscle for a little so she’s very much okay with the group hug. After that though, it’s back to sexy time, and the hybrid starts to slowly thrust in and out of her, hands on her hips as a faint outline of his cock bulges against her belly every time he hilts inside of her.</p><p> </p><p>For Steven, the whole experience is...well, an experience. Despite the growing love he and Connie had both had for Spinel, for some reason he had never actually thought about the fact that there was a good chance he’d end up having sex with the gem. Now though, with the mixed gem glow between them, her gasping against Connie while the brunette absorbs the eroticism of the moment like a cat in the sun, elastic walls gripping his cock like she never wants him to pull out, he can easily say that he’s very glad things have gone the way they have.</p><p> </p><p>Connie, for her part, is quickly feeling her sex drive coming back in full force. She had a feeling that Steven’s paperwork was going to stay unfinished for a while. Probably until tomorrow morning, she’d guess. She’d been worried about how things like dates and sex would work, with another person in the relationship, but most of that had melted away. Steven and her had always been good about communication so there was never any suspicion or jealousy, and with Stevonnie she <em> knows </em> in a way very few can that Steven loves her just as much as ever. Spinel just adds more love to throw around. As for sex, she was surprisingly into seeing her boyfriend fuck the pink gem into a loose pile of taffy and moans. Was...was this what being cucked felt like? Nah, anyone else and she’d be very appropriately angry, but still…pretty damn hot.</p><p> </p><p>As for Spinel, she wasn’t so much <em> thinking </em> at the moment as feeling a lot of feelings at the same time, with the occasional half-formed thought thrown in every once in a while. Mostly they were along the lines of ‘Oh stars oh fuck’, ‘Please slam me till I poof’, and ‘I feel like I’m going to melt, and I’m completly fine with this’. Surprisingly enough, she hadn’t felt any kind of disorientation or gag-like reflex from having Steven dicking her down like his favorite fucktoy. Maybe having things inside of her wasn’t all that bad after all? She couldn’t really focus on that though, no she was more focused on loving the slowly increasing strength of Steven’s thrusts, feeling like she was helpless in his hands and <em> loving </em> it.</p><p> </p><p>It doesn’t take long for Spinel to cum, clamping down on Steven like a rubber vice and soaking his crotch in hardlight fluid, gem filling the room with pastel pink sparkles and an orgasmic moan. The sparkles are paired a moment later with darker pink-red lights from Steven as the sudden grip on his cock sends him over the edge too, groaning as he shoots his load inside of the petite gem, breathing heavy as he looks up at Connie. </p><p> </p><p>“...So, you cum here often?” Her joke makes him snort, human, gem and hybrid all laughing together in the afterglow of a good lovin session. Spinel, still collecting herself-literally and figuratively-scootches up a little more, twisting more than humanly possible to give Connie a full-on kiss, pulling back to give her a mock glare. “Oi, I’m supposed to be the funny one! You’re the one that’s scary good at getting me hot and bothered.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, what does that make me?” The gem turns back to her front, ignoring Connie’s chuckles and the way she nips at her ear to give her pouting Steven a wide smile.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re the one that can turn me into a sparkly pink powder with his dick! Loving those thrusts by the way~” Steven pales a little at that, immediately going into worrywart mode and trying to look over her gem for cracks before she waves him off with a laugh. “Not literally! Geez, I was made to handle a Diamond’s tantrums, worst you do is poof me. Honestly? Fucking me till I poof sounds kind of hot!” She gives him a look that would make Connie proud, proven by the way her human pillow starts laughing even harder, giving her a hug as Steven blushes and sputters, despite the fact he’s still buried inside of her. Yeah, she can see why teasing him seems to be Connie’s favorite pass-time. And she’ll get to enjoy doing it now, too! For now though, she wants to get some more lovin in...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yummy lewdness is always fun ^w^ Hope you enjoyed that, I tried to keep it relatively vanilla, though if anyone has ideas for what they might want to see, whether a chapter concept or a lewd idea, feel free to let me know in the comments!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Interlude II: A Diamond's Reflection (Yellow)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>April Fools! Ya'll get another chapter! Well, a short interlude chapter, but still ^w^ Hope you like it!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>One leg crossed over the other, back straight as steel, Yellow Diamond sat on a particularly short cliff overseeing the construction zone. It was one of the newer prototype integration sites, based off of the Little Homeworld model, though with the more filled out databases on cross-gem fusions and their abilities (along with human assistance) things were progressing much faster.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She didn’t really have to be here, not really, but she liked to get a personal look at how things are going nowadays, to make sure that nothing is going unreported. And also, she’d admit, to look on in amusement at how her gems always seem to work just that little bit harder with her watching. For want of impressing her now, rather than the nervous energy that fueled them for so long before now. Of course, it helps all of their gems to work harder when doing so alongside their human companions, something that she can appreciate.</span>
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  <span>Those gems who had a cursory idea of Yellow Diamond’s personality would likely be surprised to know that she is the first of her sisters to really take to the idea that humans are worthy as a people. The ones who have known her longer and more intimately than as a commander and soldier however, will likely have an idea as to why that is. Yellow prefers efficiency wherever she can find it, and when she’d first found out about humans, all the way up until Steven came into her and her fellow Diamonds lives, she’d thought them to be droll, inefficient creatures.</span>
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  <span>She wasn’t entirely wrong of course, a humans intentions are often obscured behind the mire of their organic instincts and needs. And she </span>
  <em>
    <span>despises</span>
  </em>
  <span> most of their organizational structures, she’d nearly chipped when she heard about the ‘DMV’. That said, humans are paradoxically… efficiently inefficient. A gem is technically immortal, ageless in a way that makes time somewhat irrelevant except for those a gem imposes on themselves. There had been several times where Yellow herself had been focused on organising colony plans, and ended up not moving from her seat for 50 or more years. Humans though, they have so little comparative time to live, and when combined with their instincts they have found a way to learn how to be incompetently good at what they do.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Example: Give a human technician and a Peridot the same dataset of lodged complaints over the technical issues of a government sanctioned tool for industrial refinery repair. The dataset is several petabytes worth of complaints, all using the same complaint form. The Peridot will scroll through each individual complaint, taking note of which complaints are over the same problem and which ones are seemingly faked, working through the entire dataset by hand because they literally have all the time in the world. The human technician will instead spend several days completely ignoring the work, developing a program that analyzes every complaint and recompiles the data into different areas of issue, the program flagging any extraneous files for proper review, saving them potentially decades-worth of time. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And Yellow knew this because that’s exactly what had happened! Said Peridot had taken it for a challenge, and as far as she’d last heard the two had opened a small but quite popular I.T. company together. With friends that have an inherent timer to them, many of the gems that had come to earth were finding themselves drawn into the pace of their new organic companions, taking more potential risks that the majority of the time seem to work out in favor of efficiency. So, while Yellow certainly didn’t understand the way in which Pink had found herself drawn to humans, she did find herself...appreciating them, in their own fast, crazy, messy way. </span>
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  <span>That and they’d introduced her to tea, which certainly did not factor into her feelings on the matter and how dare you insinuate otherwise?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Picking up the Diamond-sized custom teacup she’d had made from beside her, Yellow breathes in the faint steam coming off the top of the earl grey-no milk, just a little sugar-before taking a small sip, a pleased hum escaping her. She never had to deal with the issue of having liquid stuck inside of her form, the inherent buzz of form lightning that bounces through her light body like the photons of a star’s core evaporates any liquid that makes its way to the back of her mouth, so she could simply luxuriate in the flavor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before she can do more than that though, she catches the sound of a motor vehicle trundling the stone next to her, turning to see a ‘hummvee’ rolling to a stop a few feet away from her hip. Spotting the small flags and coloring of the Hunnic Republic, she smiles and sets her teacup to the side, giving her fellow ruler a smile as he steps out, looking up to her with a grin of his own. “Ah, it’s good to see you Ms. Yellow Diamond!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And the same to you, My President Uliber.” He puts one arm behind his back and the other over his heart in his normal salute, Yellow returning it with a short diamond salute of her own-and isn’t that strange even still, saluting someone like that? She looks back out over the slowly growing city foundations, chuckling a little when she spots a particularly large fusion looking sheepish while their supervisor shouts up at them for dropping some beams. “You know, if you had told me a decade ago that I’d be here, I would have believed you to be mad. I cannot say I dislike how things have gone, though.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How do you think I feel? I found out aliens were real!” They share a laugh, amused at the inside joke they’d happened upon. Once it fades, the human looks up at the Diamond, facing the open air with arms behind his back. “So, how are your gem growth experiments going? I know you’ve been feeling anxious about the possibility of needing to restart kindergartens eventually.” Yellow hums in thought, taking another sip of her tea before replying.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Still tentative at best, unfortunately. We don’t want to potentially have Era 2-esque suboptimal formations, so it’s hard to find a balance with experimentation. We </span>
  <em>
    <span>have</span>
  </em>
  <span> found some success in reinvigorating the leached land around the old kindergartens, though. A mix of diamond essence and soil amending has been showing marked improvements in regrowth efforts.” Uliber nods thoughtfully, joining her in the city-watching.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s so odd to think that in another 40, 50 years he’ll be gone. 2 colony planning session’s-worth of years and you go from an infant to a dead human. Well, they have been living longer and longer, and with gem researchers working with human medical scientists, who knows how big of a jump in lifespan humans will have?</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Ya'll ever wonder how the fact that Siberia is just straight up a sea in the SU universe would effect Eurasian history? With most of what would have been Russia gone, things are a good bit different, such as the fact that the curved mass of land between east Europe, the northern half of India, and west China is the Hunnic Republic (Formerly the Hunnic Empire). I kept it vague since I have little to no knowledge of central Eurasian history or anything like that though, so as to make sure I don't majorly mess up anything.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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